Blood and Water
by Hybridlovelies
Summary: Sequel to Fire & Ice. Klaus has been away, chasing Rebekah, trying to get his family back. Caroline stayed in Mystic Falls, wishing for the day he returns & they can be together. But after Rebekah's latest threats, a happy end may not be in their future
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Everyone! Here it is, the long awaited sequel to Fire and Ice. A nice long first chapter, to get us all through the hiatus, and get everyone back into the story. Don't expect all of them to be this long in the future :)**

**Also, just as a note. I tried to keep my writing style, pacing, etc similar to Fire and Ice so that the two stories would flow together. So if you've read my other fics and this one seems a bit different, that's why. Or maybe it's not that different, I don't know haha**

* * *

><p>Fans were cheering, shoes squeaked across the floor, the clock ticked down the red seconds. No one saw it. It happened in the blink of an eye. Everyone else was focused on that game. But Caroline saw. Her vampire senses caught it all, but it was too late. As she arched back into her flip, someone flashed forward, knocking her to the side. She felt herself stumble and twist in the air at an old angle and then she felt the sickening crack as her shoulder hit the gym floor. Hard. It hurt like hell.<p>

The rest of the cheerleaders stopped and ran over to her. Some of the fans too. Caroline rolled onto her backside as everyone crowded around her. Every slight movement of her arm caused her to wince in pain. She looked around and saw that the entire game had stopped because of her. One of the team doctor's came over and looked at her shoulder.

"Definitely broken," he said, "we should get you to the emergency room."

Caroline looked worried for a second. She couldn't go to the emergency room! What would they say when, by the time they got her there, she was perfectly healed?

"Step back," she heard her mom yelling. The sheriff was pushed her way through the crowd and crouched down by her daughter.

"Broken. I'm pretty sure," Caroline said, looking into her mother's eyes, a secret conversation passing between them. Liz nodded and lifted off the ground.

"I'll take her to the ER in my squad car," the sheriff said. Everyone backed up and gave them room to get by. The crowd started clapping as Caroline rose and began to make her way out of the gym. She smiled graciously at the supportive response. But her smile faded as she looked to the gym doors.

There was the person responsible for her injury. The injury didn't matter so much, but the fact that the girl was even standing there was a big warning. An evil smile spread across her face as the two made eye contact. She gave Caroline a wink before slipping out.

Rebekah had returned.

* * *

><p>Caroline stood by her locker, awkwardly trying to fit her books into it. Having the use of only one arm was incredibly difficult. She huffed and groaned and cursed everything about this current situation.<p>

"Morning Caroline," Matt said greeting her.

"Good morning," she returned, finally getting her last book inside. She turned to face him with a smile. Matt noticed the blue sling around her shoulder, incasing her arm.

"Uh Care, why are you wearing that?"

"I take it you weren't at the basketball game last night," she replied.

"No. Had to work."

"Well let's just say I had an unlucky tumble. And by unlucky, I mean psycho sister of the year showed up and knocked me down in the middle of a double back-handspring."

"Wait, you mean like Rebekah? That psycho sister?"

"That would be the one," Caroline replied, nudging her locker shut and clumsily shouldering her messenger bag. Matt, ever the gentleman, stepped forward and took the bag from her. She smiled gratefully.

"I'm still confused. Why do you have the sling? Wouldn't you just heal?"

Caroline stood closer to him, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Well yeah, I'm already as good as new, but out in public I have to wear this for a few weeks. Rebekah broke my shoulder in front of a crowd of people. They all saw it happen. So I have to pretend for now that my shoulder is actually broken."

Caroline hated that part the most. One of the great things about being a vampire was never getting sick or permanently injured. Rebekah has known exactly what she was doing when she attacked Caroline in public. Matt graciously carried her books and things to her first few periods, since they were in all of the same classes. A couple girls gave her the eye as Caroline slid into her desk. She knew rumors about them would be flying by the end of the day. Which made Caroline long for her actual boyfriend.

Klaus had been gone for months following Rebekah around, chasing after her and his pseudo-dead family. She hadn't seen him since Christmas. She fingered the diamond bracelet that wrapped around her wrist. Klaus had sent it for Valentine's Day. Ever since Christmas, he knew that holidays and human traditions were very important to her. She smiled to herself, remembering the gifts he had also sent her on Groundhog Day and President's Day. He didn't really know which holidays were important and which ones weren't, but at least he was trying.

But more than gifts and the occasional phone call, she wanted him there, in Mystic Falls. They had only just begun when he took off. Caroline tried to be and understanding girlfriend, but deep down she hated it so much. She hated that it seemed like getting back at his sister was more important than being with her.

Caroline glanced over at Matt, who was doodling something in his notebook, not paying attention to the math lesson at all. They had dated once. Caroline had loved him and he had loved her. How easy would it be to have a boyfriend who was there all the time? Who wasn't chasing around evil bitch demons and wasn't a thousand years old with a million issues. Someone who would come see her cheer at basketball games and carry her books to class and pin a cheesy corsage on her hand at prom.

Just then Matt looked over at her and gave her a little smile. She returned it and then looked back toward the front of the class. Matt was nice and a great friend, but if she was being honest, all that time had past. She had changed too. She had also become a vampire with issues. And Matt had told her he couldn't handle it. They hadn't worked out as a couple because of the imbalance. Caroline hoped that it wouldn't be the same for her and Klaus.

* * *

><p>Klaus sat behind the bar, sipping at yet another scotch. The brown liquor tasted bitter on his tongue. Alcohol never affected vampires the way it did humans. He could drink a dozen more of these and only just begin to feel the effects. Klaus took the glass and knocked it back quickly, signaling to the bartender for another. The busty, blonde girl walked over and poured another double into his glass.<p>

"Wow, you can really knock em back," she said in a thick southern accent. Klaus smirked at her and pulled the new glass toward him downing the contents. The bartender poured him another.

"You wanna talk about it?" She asked, pouring him another.

"No." Klaus replied.

"Well," she said, her blue eyes narrowing seductively, "if you change your mind, I get off at four."

The girl replaced the bottle and sauntered away, swinging her luscious hips as she walked to the other side of the bar.

He glanced around the bar. It was seedy and a bit gross, but charming in that way. He reckoned it probably became a small town hang out much like The Grill at a later hour. But now it was filled with desperate, sad day drunks. Himself included. Klaus winced as he thought of The Grill. Which made him think of Mystic Falls, which made him think of a particular luscious blonde vampire.

He pushed the thought away and drank his scotch, feeling the burn as it slid down his throat. He couldn't think about that now. He was on a mission and he couldn't be distracted. It turned out that Rebekah was better at this cat and mouse game than Klaus had thought. He had just missed her yet again. Apparently she had learned something while running with him from Mikael for all those years.

Klaus watched the bartender glance surreptitiously at him from across the bar. A glance at the overhead clock said it was just after three. He downed the rest of the drink and stood up, heading over to where she was. The other bar patrons got up and left, giving him some room.

Klaus smiled at her. "You said you get off at 4?" She nodded. He leaned over the bar and whispered to her. "You know, I'm not really a patient man."

His pupils dilated and the bartender's eyes glazed over. Not that he would have needed compulsion. He had noticed her undressing him with her eyes ever since he walked in. The girl grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward her, her lips brushing against his ear. "In the back, five minutes."

Klaus smiled wickedly as he exited the bar. He sauntered around to the back of the bar. It was a dirt parking lot, with only a couple of trucks. The woods behind looked dark and deep, even in the daytime. He turned as the blonde girl appeared from the employee entrance. Her hair was curly and her smile bright but it was just slightly off. Not the quite the same. She was a bit too tall and her eyes the wrong shade of blue. Klaus extended his hand to her.

"Come," he said. She smiled and took his hand. He led her into the woods, so far that the trees began to block out the sunlight overhead. Klaus tried to squash down the slight feel of guilt rising inside of him. There was no reason to feel guilty, no reason at all.

He stopped and pushed the girl against the tree. She gasped and locked her arms around his neck, pulling him forward eagerly for a kiss. But his lips passed hers and went straight for her neck. The girl moaned at the contact, her hands running all over him. This felt wrong. So wrong. But it couldn't be avoided. He had needs. Again, there was no reason to feel any sort of guilt over that. Klaus only let it last before half a second before sinking his fangs into her neck. Then the sensual moans turned to screams.

* * *

><p>After feeding he sent the blonde back into the bar, a huge smile on her face and never the wiser about the true nature of their 'tryst'. Klaus drove away in his Camaro, feeling sated for the moment. He had a pretty good idea where he was going, based on Caroline's last tip. She had told him that she couldn't always promise she would help him and put Stefan in the line of danger. He didn't like it but he understood. He also had his remaining hybrids out spying for any sign of the rouge Salvatore or his sister. It seemed they had a newfound sense of loyalty after watching him rip their friend's head off outside the boarding house.<p>

He heard his phone buzz where it lay in the passenger seat next to him. He scooped it up and pressed the answer button.

"Hello."

"Nik, how are you?"

"Rebekah, haven't heard from you in a while. Still angry with me?"

"Dear brother what a stupid question," she replied mockingly, "you know what's interesting?"

"Please, enlighten me," he snapped back at her.  
>"Caroline just can't seem to master that pesky back -flip at cheerleading practice. It's fun to watch her become so frustrated with herself." Klaus's face dropped. Worry flooding through his veins. Rebekah being in Mystic Falls was not good and somehow she had figured out about their relationship, which was even worse. "You know you should really thank her for me the next time you talk to her."<p>

"What are you talking about?"

"Her little tipoff to Stefan gave me the perfect exit strategy. Let's just say we've gone our separate ways. All he wanted was to kill you, but I've got something much better planned."

"Revenge really isn't your thing sister."

"Well we shall see won't we? Now that I've ditched the ripper and have our family perhaps I'll just start waking them up."

"Rebekah you—"

"Oh and also thank the her for giving me another fabulous idea—instead of taking out my frustrations with you on your doppelganger, I'll be turning my attentions to someone else."

Klaus's jaw clenched tightly. "If you dare touch Caroline I will end you without a second thought."

"Guess I'll be seeing you soon, brother."

Klaus threw the phone down and spun the wheel, as the mobile crashed into pieces on the floor of the car. He stomped on the gas willing the car to go faster. He was over a thousand miles away from Mystic Falls. He needed to get back as fast as he could.

* * *

><p>"So you and Matt are back together?" Elena said sitting down at the picnic table next to Caroline.<p>

"I heard they aren't back together officially but they are heading in that direction," Bonnie added joining them.

"Actually," Caroline said, "he's just giving me attention because of the drama at the basketball game. He's my white knight and I'm his damsel in distress."

Elena laughed, "Why is everyone so crazy?"

Caroline shrugged. "Got me."

"You are ok though right?"

The blonde nodded. "Perfectly perfect. Just have to keep up appearances."

"It was Rebekah though wasn't it?" Bonnie said, "I saw her."

Elena's eyes went wide. "Rebekah?"

"Yep. The evil blood slut is back in town," Caroline replied.

"Have you told Klaus? What does he say?"

"I haven't talked to him yet. His phone keeps going straight to voicemail."

"But he'll come eventually right?"

"If he figures out that she's here he will," she replied.

"How would he not," Elena said, "especially if you tell him."

"I would if he would answer his damn phone!" Caroline said feeling frustrated. She was already worried enough. It was unlikely that something happened to him, but it had been a couple weeks since they had spoken, which was a lot longer than usual. Just then, the loud speak clicked on, interrupting her thoughts.

"Attention students. We would like to announce to you the 2012 Prom Queen nominations. Gina Warner, Olivia Fell, Jessica Roberts, and Caroline Forbes. Congratulations ladies." The speaker clicked off.

"Oh my god! Caroline!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"You're nominated for prom queen!" Elena said.

Caroline just sat there, completely surprised. "I'm nominated for prom queen? How were _you_ not nominated?" She said pointing to Elena.

"Oh please, I dropped out of that race a long time ago. I'm a loner now remember?"

"Caroline this has been your dream since forever," Bonnie said, "you've been running for Prom Queen since kindergarten."

Caroline's smile became big and bright. "I can't believe it! Prom Queen!"

For the rest of the day, everyone was congratulating her on her nomination, telling her that she was "totally" going to get it. Caroline couldn't help but beam as she strolled from class to class. She even smiled when Olivia Fell gave her a nasty look. Caroline wasn't one to be intimidated by the competition.

When the school bell finally rang, Caroline had completely forgotten all of her Klaus worries. She shouldered her bag and headed out to the parking lot. It was Friday which meant no cheerleading practice and no after school commitments, she was totally free to relax. She couldn't wait to call Klaus and tell him the news, even if he wouldn't really understand how much it meant to her. Caroline dialed his number as she reached her car. Again it went straight to voicemail. She exhaled loudly, but refused to let her absent boyfriend dampen her good mood.

"Prom Queen? That's a pretty big deal. I'm sure I could have been prom queen if I stayed in school."

Caroline froze at the sound of the familiar, yet feminine, English voice. She turned slowly to see Rebekah, standing only a couple feet away. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Certainly Rebekah wouldn't attack her in the middle of the busy parking lot with all of these witnesses around. Then again…she did attack her at the basketball game. Caroline decided it was best if she kept her guard up.

"What do you want?" Caroline said in her bravest voice possible.

"Well that's a long list. Aside from a new pair of Christian Loubitans I'd quite like to get revenge on my brother."

"Revenge?"

"For killing our mother," Rebekah replied.

Caroline was taken aback. She hadn't heard this portion of the story. Still Caroline kept her poker face on.

"So what does that have to do with me?"

Rebekah smirked, stepping closer to her. "Oh don't bother playing coy. I know all about you and my brother…that you're _involved_."

Rebekah stood in front of her, staring her down. The heels the vampire wore made her a good three inches taller than Caroline. But Caroline didn't back down, she raised her chin and met the original vampire's stare.

"Caroline is there a problem?" Matt walked up behind Rebekah. Caroline felt afraid for him for half a second. She knew that Matt would want to protect her, but if he made any move against Rebekah, the girl would snap him like a twig.

"No Matt. Rebekah was just leaving."

Rebekah smirked again and gave Matt a cursory glance before strutting away from them. Caroline watched the vampire go, glaring in her direction.

"You sure you're alright," Matt asked her once Rebekah was far out of ear shot.

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm not even entirely sure what that was all about," Caroline said tossing back her curls.

"So," Matt said changing the subject, " you going to the party tonight?"

She had heard about "the party" that was taking place that night. It was the usual get drunk in the woods bonfire party. It had been ages since Caroline had been to something like that. The last one was probably when she was still dating Matt. Still, if she _was_ going to be Prom Queen, she would have to make appearances.

"I don't have anything else to do tonight," Caroline replied opening up her car door.

"Are you supposed to be driving?" Matt asked.

"No, but I can fake it well enough. My arm isn't really broken, remember?"

Matt shook his head. "Yeah. Right. I forgot. Well, I could use a ride. My truck is in the shop and I really don't want to take the bus."

"Sure," Caroline shrugged, "hop in."

Matt lunged forward though and snatched the keys out of her hand. "Not a chance Forbes. I've been in the car with you, I know how you drive."

"Hey! I'm an excellent driver. Especially since I became a vampire."

"Yeah whatever, I'm driving. Besides it will help you're cover story."

"And add to the one where we're supposedly back together," Caroline muttered. As soon as the words were out she immediately felt horrible. She hadn't meant to say them.

Matt just smiled. "Don't worry, I already told anyone around that you're dating some hot foreign guy. Way more interesting rumor. I'm sure they'll latch on to that soon." The two of them laughed as Caroline walked around to the passenger side of her car and got in.

Matt drove to his house first and dropped himself off and then Caroline resumed her place in the driver's seat and headed home. When she reached her house, she noticed her mother's car was gone. It was fortunate that her mom was working that night. She wouldn't have to lie about the party in the woods. Sometimes having the sheriff for your mother put a serious dent in your social life.

Caroline walked through her front door and threw her keys and bag on the front table. Now that she was finally home, she could remove the sling and fake bandages covering her arm for a few hours. It only took one day of faking it and now she was definitely contemplating how believable it would be that she was a really fast healer.

"Hello love." A voice said from the living room. Caroline's head snapped up and she ran around the corner. There was Klaus, standing in her living room, a smile on his face.

"How did you get in?"

Klaus chuckled. "Your mother was here earlier. I think she's starting to warm to the idea of me."

Her sling forgotten, Caroline ran up to him and threw her arms around him. Klaus returned her embrace, lifting her off the ground and squeezing her tight. But a second later he dropped her to the ground, holding her away from his body, and gave her a muddled look.

"I'm confused," he said starring down at her "injured" shoulder and arm.

"Oh yeah, don't worry its not real," she said lifting the blue sling strap over her head and taking it off. She tossed it onto the couch.

"Then why are you wearing it?"

"Well you would know if you would answer your phone," she admonished.

"Sorry love, had a bit of a bad temper moment with my phone. Haven't had the chance to pick up a new one."

Her eyebrows rose. "Bad temper moment?"

"Nothing to worry about. And you, as usual, are avoiding my question." He brushed her hair behind her ear, letting his fingers glide through her curls.

"Hmm, seems with both have a talent for that," she quipped.

"Caroline…"

"It was Rebekah," she said. Klaus's face didn't change, he simply waited for her to continue.

The two of them sat down on the couch and Caroline explained to him how Rebekah had run in and attacked her in front of a whole crowd of people without being seen, which now necessitated her need to where a sling and bandage in public. Then she mentioned about the earlier conversation in the school parking lot. As she spoke, Klaus unwrapped the ace bandage from her arm, his fingertips brushing her skin. It made it a little difficult for her to concentrate. Once again, it seemed so surreal having him there in front of her, touching her. Just like it had been when she last saw him at Christmas. Once she was done speaking, Klaus started in with his own explanations. He told her about his phone conversation with Rebekah, the reason why he had returned to Mystic Falls.

"I need to make sure your safe. Time is of the essence, especially since Rebekah has already made a move. She doesn't know I'm here yet," Klaus said to her.

"Well that's good. Then we have time to come up with a plan."

"I already have a plan," he said, "we're leaving Mystic Falls tonight."

"Wait, what?"

"Pack some things. I'm taking you away from here for the time being."

Caroline shook her head in disbelief. "I can't just pick up and leave."

"You should probably warn your friends also. If Rebekah is going after you to get back at me then it's likely she'll go after the doppelganger as well. But Damon Salvatore can decide what he wants to do about that."

"Klaus stop! I can't leave. There's a party I have to go to tonight. And I have school and cheerleading and I just got nominated for prom queen."

"None of that matters," Klaus said.

Caroline stamped her foot in protest. "It matters to me!"

"Well you really don't have a choice in the matter," Klaus said, his eyes deadly serious.

At that, Caroline shot up off the couch. "Oh really?"

Klaus stood up, looking down at her, his jaw clenched in frustration. "Caroline if I have to throw you over my shoulder and drag you out of this town I will do it."

"Try it," Caroline said, meeting his stare. She could see his lips pursing together. It was something he always did when he knew he was losing an argument.

"You have until dusk to pack and warn your friends. Then I'm coming back and we _are_ leaving Mystic Falls!"

With his final words, Klaus stalked out of the living room and out of the house, slamming the front door behind him.

* * *

><p>Caroline ignored Klaus's demands and went to the party that night. He said that he would drag her out of town if he had to, well that was just what it would take. There was no way she was letting the threats of an evil blood slut run her out of her town. Instead she would drink cheap beer and hang out with her friends like the normal teenage girl she was always trying to be. Instead of wearing the stupid sling, Caroline had wrapped her arm up in cloth bandages. Everyone would be too drunk to notice anyways. She stood up against a tree, chatting with Elena, red solo cup in hand.<p>

"So Rebekah is after you because she's trying to get back at Klaus?" Elena asked.

"Yeah apparently. I miss the days when everyone was after _you_."

"I don't," Elena replied. Caroline looked over at her and they both laughed. "And she's gonna wake up the rest of the originals?"

"That's what she threatened to Klaus. But he seems to think she won't. He said there are too many risks involved for herself by waking any of the others."

Elena's shoulders sagged a bit in relief. "Well I hope he's right," she said, "where is Klaus anyways? I'm surprised you aren't with him considering it's been like five months since you've seen him."

Caroline gulped down her beer. "We had a fight."

"You had a fight?"

"Yeah. He came in like a caveman, saying that he was taking me away from Mystic falls 'for my safety' and just completely doesn't get why I won't leave."

"He's just being an over-protective boyfriend I'm sure," Elena said.

"Whatever," Caroline replied, "speaking of over-protective boyfriends, where is Damon tonight?"

Elena still hadn't admitted that her and Damon were an item, but Caroline liked to push the envelope. They all did really. It had been obvious since homecoming that the two of them were together and that was months ago. But Elena kept things quite and Damon didn't seem to mind.

"I snuck out, I needed a girls night for once," she replied taking a sip of beer.

"Too bad Bonnie isn't here," Caroline replied, "so why did you have to _sneak_ out?"

"Damon's just intense. He still doesn't like to leave me alone, ever since that one time, when Klaus—" Elena stopped herself and looked at Caroline.

The blonde just rolled her eyes. "It's fine. When he stole your blood. I know we don't have the best history with my boyfriend, no point in ignoring it."

"Yeah," Elena said, "well since then he doesn't like to let me out of his sight for too long. He can be such a dad sometimes."

Caroline made a face. "Ew. That is creepy in a way you can't even imagine."

They laughed again, finishing off their beers, and stood around chatting some more. Matt eventually came and hung out for a bit, but was soon taken away by his football teammates for drinking games. Damon showed up too, finally figuring out where Elena had run off. They didn't stay long after that. Caroline took the opportunity to mingle. She needed to do some major sucking up to get people to vote for her.

A few beers later, Caroline started to feel a little buzz. _Must have been more than a few beers_, she thought since it always took vampires a little more to get truly drunk. However her lowered senses didn't make it difficult for her to notice the swift vampire moment in the woods. She didn't know who or what it was but she knew that no human was moving that fast. It was probably one of Klaus's stupid hybrids, ready to pick off drunken teenagers. Caroline stalked off into the dark woods to go handle the problem and prevent anyone from getting hurt, or killed.

She stepped deeper into the woods, the light from the bonfire fading the further she walked. Leaves and branches crunched under her feet. She could hear a few couples getting busy around her. Caroline had to hold back the urge to gag. Sometimes she hated her vampire hearing. Next to her a branch snapped. She whipped her head in the direction of the sound and she saw something disappear behind a tree.

"You might as well come out, I know you're there," Caroline said, spreading her legs and standing at the ready. It only just occurred to her that maybe it wasn't a hybrid; that instead it was Rebekah, and here she was, without backup. But it was too late now, she thought, as she heard movement and footsteps.

Caroline dropped her stance when she saw Klaus walk around the tree and not Rebekah.

"Oh it's you," Caroline flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I thought I told you we were leaving tonight. Yet here you are wandering around in the woods, alone and vulnerable," Klaus said walking toward her.

"I guess this is the part where you drag me outta town," she replied.

Klaus ignored her, instead walking right up to her and crushing his lips to hers in a searing hot kiss. Klaus's hands went around her back, one cupping her bum, pressing her flush against him. Caroline's arms went automatically around his neck, standing on her tip toes to meet him, desire taking over any other emotion. She could feel the heat from his body radiating through her party clothes. His tongue swirled around inside her mouth. Clearly he had been out hunting. He tasted slightly of blood. But of course she enjoyed it. Klaus lifted her from the ground and pressed her back up against a tree, tracing her lips with his tongue.

A few moments later, he pulled back, looking down at her, grinning like an alligator. "I realized after I left you earlier that I never gave you a proper hello."

Caroline fought the urge to giggle, remembering that she was still supposed to be mad at him. "We are just doing everything wrong aren't we?"

"How so love?"

"Well it's been months. We should be having passionate reunion sex or something, not fighting."

Klaus's grin got even bigger. "Well the fighting is just foreplay," he replied dipping his head down to her neck. Caroline let out a moan at the feel of his perfect lips on her throat. Sometimes she wished he could just sink his teeth right into her…but there was that whole killing thing to worry about. Then again he could just heal her right away. They'd have to try it sometime. But no! Caroline was getting distracted by her hormones. She placed her hands on his shoulders and shoved him away.

"Seriously! I'm not leaving Mystic Falls," she said narrowing her eyes at him.

Klaus groaned. "I thought you said that we'd _shouldn't_ be fighting."

"Well we wouldn't be if you just gave in," she smiled sweetly.

Klaus stood up straight and looked away from her. She could see him trying to work out an argument that would avoid a fight but still let him win. But she wasn't going to back down.

"Klaus, Mystic Falls is my home. And yes I totally plan on leaving one day, but right now it's important that I be here. That I finish out this part of my life before I move on to the next." Klaus just stared into the forest, his eyes not meeting hers. "Look we've stuck around through every crazy vampire and an witch and war and whatever else that has come through this town. We haven't ditched yet."

Klaus looked at her then. "But this isn't about them Caroline, this is about me. And you."

"And I trust you," she said, "I trust you to protect me."

Klaus gave her a small smile at that. She was certain it was probably the first time anyone had ever said anything like that to him. He let out a deep sigh, cupping her face in his hands.

"I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you," he said seriously.

"Don't worry so much," she poked him playfully in the ribs, "no matter what romance novels claim, the over protective boyfriend thing really isn't always sexy."

She saw him roll his eyes slightly at the use of the word "boyfriend" and took his silence as an opportunity to pull him in for another kiss. Klaus slipped his arms around her again and returned her affections. Since the leaving issue seemed settled, she could now concentrate on the other point he had brought up. It really _had_ been to long. Caroline was, for lack of a better word, horny. Maybe that's why she was being so bitchy about the whole thing.

Her fingers trailed down his chest to his belt. She unfastened the buckle, the metal clinking under her fingers, and unzipped his pants. Klaus broke away from her mouth, their lips separating with a pop. He glanced down at her hands and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I didn't take you for such an exhibitionist love."

"Well this isn't really public," Caroline replied coyly, "besides we aren't the only ones."

Klaus's ears pricked. There were faint sounds of rustling and moaning throughout the forest. Teenage hormones at their finest. He looked back down at her with a wicked grin.

"Well, I think we can do better than them," he said planting his lips on her throat. Caroline arched into him as his hands passed under her shirt. He cupped one of her breasts, squeezing slightly. Just as she was getting into everything, blue and red lights started flickering, then she heard the familiar blip of a police car siren. In the distance complaints and groans could be heard as the cops broke up the party.

Klaus paused his ministrations and looked up at her. "I suppose that means we've missed the teenage fun."

"Yes," Caroline said, "but that also means that my mom isn't home right now."

Klaus smirked, discerning her meaning. He stood upright and helped Caroline fix her shirt while adjusting his pants.

"I suppose we'll be taking this indoors after all."

* * *

><p>Caroline woke up the next morning snuggled up in Klaus's arms. It felt so nice. She could count the number of times on one hand that she had gotten the chance to do this. Her fingers trailed down his bare chest, tracing the outlines of his muscle. She should really write Rebekah a nice thank you note, maybe send some flowers. After all, it <em>was<em> because of her that Klaus was now back in Mystic Falls.

Caroline sat up and dropped a small kiss onto his lips. Klaus opened his eyes then, smiling at her face only inches away. Caroline knew that from the few times they actually had had sleepovers that he hadn't really been asleep. He was only just pretending.

"Morning," he said to her.

"Good morning," she replied with a big smile.

Klaus reached up and placed his hands on her back, rubbing circles against her smooth skin.

"You're in a good mood this morning."

"I am," she replied kissing him again. Klaus chuckled light heartedly at her enthusiasm.

A few moments later Caroline broke away and rolled over, her hand reaching for her nightstand. Her fingers searched for her cell phone, but it wasn't there. Caroline sat up frowning.

"Where's my phone?" she asked out loud, mostly to herself.

"Left it in the car perhaps?" Klaus said.

"Probably. I hate when I do that." Caroline turned to slip out of bed, grabbing her unworn pajamas off the floor. "I'm just gonna go grab it, I'll be right back."

Klaus moved forward. "Let me."

Caroline jumped, pushing him back into the bed. "No way! We got lucky sneaking you in here. My mom might still be home and I don't wanna have _that_ awkward boys and sex and responsibility discussion."

Klaus chuckled and leaned back into bed, his arms behind his head, as Caroline slipped on her sweat pants and robe and headed out to the driveway.

_It really is a beautiful morning_, Caroline thought as she walked toward her car. The sun was high and shining and birds were singing. Maybe it was just a symptom of being so love struck. She knew that Klaus was only just returning because of the danger, but she couldn't help but be at least a little thankful for it, if it meant that he was by her side. It was odd in a way. She had never really felt this dependent on a guy before. Not that she _was_ dependent or that Klaus was any ordinary guy. Still, she never had felt so lost whenever Matt or Tyler had gone off on weekend trips or when Tyler would go missing for weeks at a time. Maybe it was different because they were different situations. But when Klaus left, she had felt like a part of her was gone with him. She didn't even realize it until she saw him again.

Caroline opened her car door and saw her phone right away sitting in a cup holder. She grabbed and climbed back out of the car. As she spun around to head back inside the sight of a very blonde, angry vampire stopped her.

"Good morning Caroline," Rebekah said in a faux-sweet voice. Caroline almost jumped out of her skin. Behind Rebekah, she noticed two men standing there. They were tall and dark and broad. Caroline wasn't sure if they were supernatural but she didn't like the look of them either way.

"I'm guessing my brother is inside," Rebekah continued, "so we had better make this quick."

Caroline opened her mouth to respond but she didn't have the chance. In the blink of an eye Rebekah seized her head and twisted her neck. Caroline heard the snap of her own spine and then everything went black.

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><p><strong>So the story is set and the plot thickens. Lots going on here. Hope its not super confusing or anything.<br>**

**Let me know what you think. I love reviews :)**

**Follow Hybridlovelies on Tumblr for extra Klaroline drabbles and goodness.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Another nice and long update for you! Hope you guy enjoy. Definitely let me know what you guys think! I also took a tip from one of the reviewers and let you guys know the reason why Klaus doesn't sleep that often. SEE! I read your reviews :)**

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><p>Klaus lay back in bed waiting for Caroline to return. He rolled over and crushed one of her pillows into his face. It smelled of her perfume, like strawberries and honey. It was light and fun, just like she was. For the past few months away from her, he had been living in a constant state of rage and turmoil while searching for Rebekah and Stefan. The only time he had felt even slightly at ease was whenever he'd speak to Caroline. But their relationship via telephone had not done them justice, he realized. He needed her. He needed to be around her. Of course he would never become some puffy, teddy bear of a—<em>boyfriend<em>—but having Caroline in his life did make him a different man.

He rolled back over and stared up at the ceiling, a huge smile on his face as he thought of the night before. Caroline had been almost ravenous when they finally made it home.

"Shh!" She had whispered at him forcefully as they stumbled into the house, "my mom is sleeping."

However _he_ wasn't the one who needed reminders about being quiet. He chuckled to himself at the memories and felt the blood rush in his veins. Every time was like the first time with her. He couldn't imagine ever getting enough; he was completely addicted to her touch, her smell, her taste. As soon as she came back, he would show her just how hungry he still was for her.

But where was she? Klaus realized that she had been gone for more than a few minutes. It shouldn't have taken her that long to retrieve her phone. He decided to go check on her. He could sneak around and evade her mother if need be. Klaus slid from the bed and pulled his jeans and shirt on quickly. He walked out of Caroline's room and down the hall. Her mother didn't seem to be around after all. Then he saw that the front door was still wide open. Right away, Klaus's nerves were on alert. Something was wrong. He listened hard, trying to detect anyone or anything that might be around as he made his way outside. The sunlight blinded him a little as he walked into the driveway. Caroline was nowhere to be found.

"Caroline?" Klaus called out. No answer. Then he noticed a small white object laying on the concrete. Klaus walked over to it and knelt down. It was Caroline's phone. He picked it off the ground and stood up, looking around in all directions. Something had happened. Caroline had been taken and he was willing to bet Rebekah was behind it.

Klaus squeezed the tiny phone in his hand and went back inside. He paced around, trying to calm himself down and figure out what to do. He wouldn't be any good to her if he were too angry to think of a plan. First he would have to figure out where Rebekah was hiding out. As he made a mental list of the places she might be he cursed the day he had decided to undagger his sister. Just then the phone began to chime. He didn't even realize he was still holding on to it, clinging to it as if it would lead him to his kidnapped love. He looked down at the caller ID and saw the doppelganger's name and photo pop up. He slid the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

"What?" Klaus answered harshly.

"Klaus," Elena muttered on the other end, "can I speak to Caroline?"

"No you can't."

"Well why not?"

"Because she isn't here."

"Where is she?" Elena retorted.

"I don't know," Klaus growled, "she's been…taken."

Klaus heard Elena's intake of breath at the news. Her voice sounded farther away. She must have turned from the phone to speak. A few moments later it was Damon Salvatore's voice on the other end.

"I take it you didn't just piss off Barbie so much that she simply ran away," the Salvatore quipped.

Klaus realized in that moment that to get Caroline back he was going to have to do something he _really_ didn't want to do. He was going to have to team up once again with Damon Salvatore.

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><p>After speaking with Damon on the phone, Klaus hung up and rushed over to the boarding house. He walked inside, not bothering to knock on the front door. In the living room he could hear Damon and the doppelganger arguing.<br>"This is perfect, we'll blackmail him. We'll find out where Caroline is and then make him agree to leave you alone and let Stefan off the hook," Damon said.  
>"Damon no! I don't feel right about playing with Caroline's life like that," Elena said.<br>"Look, you know that if Barbie were here she would agree to this."

"God Damon, sometimes you can still be such an ass," Elena muttered.  
>"Yeah well I'm an ass who's kept you alive and all of us safe."<p>

"Damon—"

At this Klaus walked in and cut them both off. "Or I could just make this easy and murder all of you until no one in Mystic Falls is left standing except for my sister and Caroline."

Elena and Damon both gave him looks at this comment. They knew it was half true, half not.

"Any guesses on where sister dearest is holding her hostage," Damon asked, moving away from Elena and putting himself between her and Klaus. Klaus would have been amused at the obvious protective gesture if he wasn't so on edge at the moment.  
>"I have hybrids out looking for her. Shouldn't take too long. Rebekah isn't very good at covering her tracks. Never has been," Klaus said.<br>"Yet she managed to evade you for months while you chased her around the country," Damon retorted. Klaus sneered at him angrily and fought the urge to punch him across the room. "No matter. We have a secret weapon of our own as usual."

As if on cue, Bonnie walked through the door, grimoire in hand. She took one look at Klaus, glaring at him as she passed. Clearly even though Caroline's friends were accepting of their relationship they still didn't like him. He could live with that though. He didn't need their approval.  
>"I can use a locator spell to find out where Rebekah has Caroline," Bonnie said sitting down on the couch, "it'll be way easier since I have a connection to her."<br>Bonnie opened up her spell book, while the rest of them gathered around and watched her work. Klaus was feeling suddenly grateful that he hadn't killed this witch after all. The witch's eyes closed as she began muttering under her breath in an unknown language, reciting words that had been spoken long before she was ever born. The crystal in her hand swung from side to side as she chanted. Then suddenly it stopped and Bonnie's eyes flashed open.  
>"Well? Where is she?" Damon said and the girl's head snapped up. Klaus was growing tired of all the dramatic pauses and looks. Every second wasted was a second that Caroline could be in pain or closer to death.<br>"Guys," Bonnie said, "she's outside."

Klaus gave her his own dramatic look just then. All of them exchanged confused glances with each other. Just as Elena was about to make a comment, Klaus darted from the room.

Bonnie was right. There was Caroline outside in the Salvatore's yard, unconscious, in the arms of Matt. Klaus flashed to where they stood. Matt was obviously faltering while trying to support her weight, his human strength not allowing him to hold her for so long. Klaus took her from him gently, cradling her in his arms as if she weighed no more than a feather.  
>"What's wrong with her?"<p>

"I don't know," Matt said, "Rebekah showed up at my house with her this morning. Her and some witch guy. She was perfectly fine when they brought her over, just bruised up a little bit."

"Matt!" Elena said running outside. Damon and Bonnie followed her.  
>"The guy did some spells and stuff and then Caroline was unconscious. Then they just left. I-I don't know what they did," Matt was in agony, his confusion breaking through his voice.<p>

"Let's get her inside," Elena said and Klaus walked back toward the house with carrying Caroline.

They took her upstairs to her "former room" and laid her out on the bed. Klaus did his best to keep it together. In spite of everything, he didn't want any of them to see his true worry over Caroline. He listened as Matt told the story of his morning. Apparently everything had happened very quickly, leaving the boy confused and anxious. Rebekah's witch had burst in and forced Matt to invite her in, which he quickly did once he saw they had Caroline. Rebekah and the witch had begun setting a few things up on Matt's kitchen table just as Caroline came to. But before they had a chance to talk, Rebekah knocked her out again.

"They said some spells and force fed her some red liquid, blood or something I don't know and then that was it. It all took about ten minutes," Matt said finishing his story.

"So she's in some sort of magical coma?" Damon asked.  
>"I guess so," Matt replied.<p>

Elena put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's ok Matt. You did the right thing."

They all turned to Bonnie then, Klaus included.  
>"I can <em>try<em> to figure out what's going on here," Bonnie said, "but putting a vampire in a coma sounds like some serious power."

"Well you found enough power to use when you wanted to kill me," Klaus said in a low voice.  
>Bonnie glared at him. "Just so you know, I'm not doing this for you. Caroline's my friend and I'm not going to let her die over some stupid original sibling feud."<p>

"I don't really care what your motives are as long as she wakes up," Klaus said. He bent forward and placed a kiss on top of Caroline's head and then stood back to let Bonnie get to work.

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><p>Hours later, Bonnie was still no closer to figuring out what kind of spell had been cast over Caroline. She had enlisted Matt to help her search for any words or anything he might remember hearing. Klaus was vacillating between being incredibly relieved to have Caroline back to incredibly worried for what Rebekah might have had done to her. He kept swearing to himself that he would rip her apart as soon as he found her. While he waited he found himself downstairs with Damon, busting through another bottle of alcohol.<p>

"I can't help but think that this is all kind of…poetic," Damon said taking a sip of scotch, "finally its you who gets to worry about someone they care about."

Klaus smirked, taking a sip from his own glass. "I get it you know. You all hate me. And you hate the fact that Caroline loves me."

"Barbie never was a good judge of character. She did date me after all," Damon raised his glass in mock salute and Klaus frowned.

Yes he knew about Damon and Caroline's previous relationship. He added it to the list of reasons to hate the Salvatore. He didn't care to be reminded of it now.

"Well boys, what are we drinking," a female voice said entering the room.

Klaus's eyes flicked up as Rebekah sauntered in. He shot up from his seat on the brown leather couch, stalking toward her.

"You have some nerve, showing your face here," Klaus said coolly as he watched his sister grab the bottle and pour herself a drink.

"Calm down Nik, I come in peace," she replied.  
>"What did you do to Caroline?" Klaus was practically growling at his sister.<br>"I didn't do anything. But a witch friend of mine put a little spell on her."

Klaus snatched the glass of alcohol from her hand and threw it. The glass smashed into bits against the wall and the liquid splashing all around.

"Rebekah I swear—"

"Oh shut it Nik you aren't going to do anything. The worst thing you'll do is dagger me again for another century and since you don't have one on you at this moment I think I'm quite safe."

Klaus winced at her words. It was true. She saw right through him. No matter how much he threatened or entertained the idea of killing her, he never truly would. She was his sister after all. His _only_ sister.

"Rebekah if you want to kill me then go ahead and try your hardest. But leave Caroline out of it."

"You know Nik I don't get to see you in love that often. It's made you quite noble," she tossed her hair and brushed past him, "I did want to kill you but I changed my mind about that. You know how it goes."

"So what _is_ it that you want Rebekah? Other than to just make me miserable?"

"I want my family back. Mikael is dead now. There's no reason to keep waiting."

"I want that too, but there are…complications..."

"Like what?" She shouted cutting him off. "Because you have a little girlfriend now. Because you know how angry they'll be with you and she's the first person that they'll go after to get to you. Selfish bastard!"

"What about you?" Klaus said, his own voice getting louder, "why didn't you just go ahead and wake them? Or are you afraid too? Of Kol? Of how angry he will be with you?"

"That's enough!" Rebekah yelled. Klaus could see tears shining in her eyes. He knew he had hit the mark. She sniffed a bit, reaching into the pocket of her jeans and pulling out a small vile filled with red liquid. She held it up in the air between her thumb and forefinger.

"I want a truce. I want us to be a family."  
>Klaus regarded her cautiously. "And in return?"<p>

"This is your cure. The witch who put the spell on Caroline made it. Feed her this and she'll wake up."

Klaus took two steps toward her, holding his hand out for the vile. It was all the acquiescence he would give her. Rebekah nodded and went to place it in his hand.

"Just so you know. If you wait too long, she won't ever wake up."

Klaus snatched the vile away before Rebekah had a chance to change her mind. Then she flashed out of the room, leaving him and Damon alone once again. Elena and Bonnie came downstairs at that moment.  
>"What just happened?" Elena asked, "I thought I heard Rebekah."<p>

"Yeah she was here. Got to be a part of a nice and awkward family chat," Damon said.

"What'd she want?"

"To give us this cure for Caroline," Klaus said, flashing the vile.

Elena's brows furrowed. "A cure?"

"She came to make a bargain and I agreed."

"She went to all this trouble just to get you to bargain with her?" Elena said incredulously.

"My sister has an impulsive temper, as you know," Klaus said, "but she's not entirely unreasonable."

Klaus's eyes flicked to Damon. He knew the Salvatore wouldn't be thrilled about the prospect of Klaus waking the rest of his family. Damon looked back at him as if the vampire knew what he was thinking. But his face betrayed no opinion on the matter. Klaus wasn't even sure what he thought about it all. Rebekah would only wait so long for him to act on his word. But he would think about that later. Right now, only Caroline mattered.

"I don't think we should give that to her right away. You should let Bonnie figure out what it is first," Elena stepped forward to take the vile but Klaus snatched it away.

"Because your witch has been so helpful already," Klaus said.

"Bonnie's trying ok?"

Klaus stared down at the doppelganger. "Well she doesn't need to try anymore. We have our solution."

Elena met his stare head on. "I don't trust Rebekah. Or you. Just give her a couple hours and if it doesn't work, then we'll do things your way."

Klaus's jaw flexed, but he nodded in agreement. Elena had been right about one thing. She shouldn't trust him.

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><p>Klaus had followed Bonnie back upstairs to watch her while she tried to wake Caroline. He hoped his presence would inspire the witch to work a little faster. Caroline remained on the bed, dozing peacefully, just as she had been that morning. Klaus tried to calm himself. He knew she would be ok. He had the answer to their problems in his pocket. And now everything with Rebekah would be finished. All that was left would be to figure out what to do with the coffins and then he and Caroline could just exist for a while.<p>

He sat there, biding his time, watching the witch work. It didn't seem like she was doing much of anything. Matt left to go to his shift at The Grill and Damon and Elena disappeared to do whatever it is that they do. Finally he was alone with the witch.

"Any progress?" Klaus asked her as she flipped through more pages of spells.  
>"Well I'm one hundred percent sure that the vile is full of blood. I've been trying to read more about blood magic. It's darker. Not something that I know a lot about."<p>

"My mother used to dabble in blood magic a bit," Klaus commented, "it was part of what led her to creating vampires."

Bonnie nodded at him, but that was as far as the conversation went. Klaus went back to running his fingers through Caroline's hair. The more he sat there, the more he thought about Elena's words. She was right and part of him knew it. This was all just too easy. Why had Rebekah just handed over the cure? She had seemed so angry and spiteful before. After all these months, why would she just give in and make a simple bargain with him? Something didn't make sense. But he was anxious. Rebekah had said that if they didn't give her the cure soon, she wouldn't ever wake up. She never said what the exact time limit was. It could be any second. It could have already passed.

Klaus glanced over at the witch as she ran her finger down the page. He listened out for any sign of Damon or Elena being nearby. Then he flashed across the room, grabbing Bonnie by the throat, and squeezing just in the right place. She fell to the ground, unconscious, not dead.

He walked back over to Caroline and sat on the bed next to her, pulling the vile of blood out of his pocket. He gathered her into his arms, propping her head up in his lap. He unstoppered the vile with his teeth, spitting the cork on onto the floor and squeezed Caroline's jaw open with one hand. The liquid poured from the vile and into her opened mouth. Some of the red dripping down the corners of her mouth.  
>"Come on, Caroline," he whispered as the last of the liquid left the tube. He held his breath and willed her to open her eyes. What if he had been too late in feeding her the cure? What if she never woke up?<p>

Then Caroline began coughing, her eyes fluttering open. The relief washed over Klaus like a fresh rain. She was ok, she was going to be ok. Caroline's eyes opened fully, searching around the room, trying to orient herself. They landed on Klaus and widened for a moment. Then her arms were around him, squeezing tightly.

"Klaus! What? I don't know-"

"Shh love. It's all right. You're safe," Klaus said squeezing her back.

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><p>Caroline hadn't been too happy with him once she was fully awake and noticed her unconscious friend on the floor.<br>"I'm sorry love. It just couldn't be avoided," was his only excuse. Caroline gave him a sour look. So to appease her, he lifted the witch off the floor and laid her out on one of the beds in another room.

He then stopped by Damon's stash of blood bags and grabbed a couple. Caroline would need to drink so that she could heal properly. Back inside the room, he sat with her in his arms, while she sipped her blood.

"How long was I out?" Caroline asked him.  
>"Only a day," Klaus replied.<br>"What even happened?"

Klaus filled in the blanks for her, reiterating Matt's story of the morning, with the details of Bonnie's efforts, and his disagreements with Elena and Damon.  
>"Since I'm awake I guess you won the blood cure argument," Caroline commented.<br>"Everyone was simply unavailable for consultation when I decided to revisit the issue," Klaus said. She rolled her eyes at his response.  
>"What are you going to do about your family? I thought Stefan had them."<p>

"No Rebekah has them. She wouldn't have left them in Stefan's hands. She cares about them too much. Like me."

Caroline nodded thoughtfully. "So what are you going to do? Wake them up?"

Klaus sighed heavily. "It's complicated with my family. It is what I wanted. But I have other things to consider now."

She nodded at his response, feeling a little guilty that she was relived. Klaus had been terrible when he first came to Mystic Falls and that was putting it lightly. He still was sometimes and she couldn't imagine that his other siblings were that different. Especially judging by Rebekah. She finished off the blood bag and Klaus took it from her laying it on the bedside table.

"I brought another one if you'd like."

"No, I think I'm ok for now," she replied with a stretch of her arms.

"Sleep?"

Caroline turned over quickly then, instantly straddling his lap, a mischievous look in her eye. Klaus smiled at the turn this night was now taking, thankful that he had put the witch to bed.

"Sleep is the last thing I want to do Niklaus," she said dipping her head down and gave him a long sensuous kiss.

"Niklaus?" He said, "Where did that come from? You've never called me Niklaus."

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

She went back to kissing him and Klaus forgot about it. Maybe he didn't so much mind the sound of his given name on her lips. Her hands travelled down to strip the shirt from his body, nails scrapping lighting against his skin. Once they were both naked he wrapped his arms around her tightly and let himself get lost in the feel of her body against his.

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><p>Suddenly Klaus was awake. He noticed right away that something was wrong. His arms were empty.<p>

"Good morning brother," Rebekah was standing there at the foot of the bed holding Caroline still. Her eyes were filled with fear as she struggled feebly against his sister's grasp.

But there was someone else there. Someone next to them. The woman wore a long green dress and her wavy golden hair hung down past her waist. She looked exactly as she had a thousand years ago the day he had killed her.

"Mother," Klaus said, trying to gulp down his fear. He should have known better than to trust Rebekah.

"You have committed terrible sins Niklaus. You must be punished," Esther said. She nodded to Rebekah, who smiled evilly. Then the girl thrust her hand into Caroline's chest and extracted her heart.

He heard himself yell and tried to move forward to stop Rebekah, but it was useless. The deed was done. Caroline's eyes went wide and she dropped to her knees. Klaus felt the blood drain from his body as he saw her skin grey over and watch the light leave her face. Her head tilted toward him, her eyes filled with tears, and she opened her mouth and—

Klaus awoke again. It had been a dream. A nightmare. He glanced down quickly and saw Caroline slumbering peacefully in his arms. He put his hand to his head, feeling the immense relief. Seeing her die at the hands of his mother and Rebekah had been so real. Too real. It was the exact reason why he didn't like to sleep and never did on purpose. He always had nightmares.

But he knew he was awake now for real and the nightmare was over. He finally noticed that the sunlight was streaming through the windows. It was morning. The house would be waking up soon and they would probably come to check on Caroline. He squeezed her tight once more, reassuring himself that she was perfectly fine and not really dead, and then slipped away into the bathroom.

Klaus turned on the tap and let the water run, gathering it into his hands, and splashing some on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror. He needed to get a grip. Worrying over Caroline was making him mental. Clearly everything was going to be fine. It was just that he had never cared about someone this much in his entire existence. Not in this way. It was difficult to handle. His emotions were getting the better of him. He still believed that love was a vampire's greatest weakness, especially now more than ever. But that didn't mean he would be giving Caroline up. His existence would now be meaningless without her.

"Calm down mate," he said to his reflection, "it was only a dream."

Klaus shut the water off and dressed himself before returning to the bedroom. Caroline was awake, sitting up in bed. She had already put her clothes back on. She smiled warmly at Klaus as he climbed back into bed next to her.

"Morning love," he said giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Good morning," she returned, "everything all right? You look worried."

"Just a nightmare," he shrugged.

Caroline nodded and smiled again. Klaus watched her as she slipped off the bed and walked over the vanity, grabbing a brush from the drawer. She paced around the room as she combed through her tangled locks.

"You know that was really all too easy," Caroline said.

"You mean everything with Rebekah?"

"No, Niklaus, I mean getting into your head just now."

Klaus cocked his head at her. It was the second time she had called him by that name. "What are you talking about?"

"The nightmare. Rebekah killing Caroline. It was easy to find the heart of your greatest fear and exploit it."

Caroline set the brush down calmly and turned to face him. Her posture was different and the way she held her hands, folded in front of her, seemed odd. Then there was the way she had just referred to herself in the third person. Klaus sat forward on the bed, his eyes squinting, trying to figure out what was wrong. She opened her mouth and continued to speak.

"I would have expected someone like you to be much more guarded. But then again, you never lived up to expectations my son."

Klaus's eyes widen as he heard the words. _My son_. The cadence of her speech. The posture. He recognized it all. This wasn't Caroline he was speaking to. This was someone else entirely.  
>"Esther."<p>

A smile spread across her face. "Hello Niklaus. It has been quite some time."

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><p><strong>So Esther is back! What's gonna happen? Stay tuned!<strong>

**This chapter was narrated mostly by Klaus, cause we got to hear a lot from Caroline in the previous chapter. Also if the relationship between Rebekah and Klaus seems confusing...it's because it is lol...but don't worry there will be more explanation on her motives and how it will effect both of them as the story continues.**

**Let me know what you think!**

_**follow me on tumblr HybridLovelies**_

_**{{{EDIT}}}: Ok, had to come back and add this note. NO! Esther/Klaus did not have sex. Yes Esther was starting to manifest in Caroline the night before when she slipped and called him "Niklaus" but Caroline was still very much Caroline and she was the one around for the sex. Not Esther! Esther hadn't fully arrived until the next morning when she gave Klaus the dream.**_

_**Don't worry, it will make more sense in the next chapter! :)  
><strong>_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello all and happy update day! Thanks to everyone for reading this story and leaving me reviews. I always love to read them! Especially after last chapter when all of you freaked out about Klaus unknowingly getting it on with his mom! NO NO NO! For all of you who maybe missed the sidenote, that was NOT my intention. Caroline was still very much present that night. Esther wasn't really around until the morning. All of your reactions made me laugh though haha**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Klaus looked into her eyes. They were Caroline's eyes, blue and deep and beautiful as ever. But they were different. Changed. The person looking back at him was not his Caroline, that much he could tell.<p>

"How," Klaus said.

"The vial. The blood. Your sister," Esther said through Caroline's lips, "your impulsiveness wounds you yet again. The spell Caroline was under was quite easy. The Bennett witch would have figured it out soon enough."

Klaus stepped forward and grabbed her arm, jerking it roughly. Esther smirked and made a clicking noise with her tongue. "You can't hurt me. I can't feel it. Any physical action you take will only hurt the girl."

He let her go roughly. Glaring at her.

"So I assume you are going to kill me," Klaus said.

"Not just you Niklaus. All of you," Esther said, "I have had a thousand years of punishment on the other side for my crimes against nature. Now I wish to right the wrong I have done."

"So it's not just me you hate now, it's all of us. Rebekah, Kol, even Elijah."

Esther raised a hand to Klaus's face in a very maternal sort of way. He could have sworn that it really was her he was looking at.

"I hate what my children have become and I know that it is my fault. But I know that I must do this. In the end, you will all be at peace."

Klaus laughed without humor, knocking her hand away. This was why he hated Esther; her moral relativity. When they had been humans, she was convinced she was doing the right thing by turning them into vampires. Now that they were vampires she was convinced that she must kill them. It was ironic really.

She continued speaking, "I need something from you first."

"Well isn't that interesting."

"If you refuse, Caroline dies."

Klaus was tired of this. He was tired of bargaining with Caroline's life. So he wouldn't anymore.

"Fine then," Klaus shrugged, "she dies and then you'll be sent back to the pit in hell where you belong."

"I know your tricks my son. I saw your episode with Mikael. It didn't work then and it won't work now."

Klaus remained stoic as he stared down into Caroline's eyes. But not hers, Esther's. He had to keep reminding himself. A slow smile spread across her face. She flashed over to a wooden chair, breaking its legs and forming a stake. Just as quickly Klaus followed her and grabbed her arm. He thrust her body back against the wall, holding the arm with the stake and slamming it into the wall until she dropped the weapon. Klaus kept hold of her by her throat, firm enough to prevent her from moving, but not to hurt Caroline.

"What do you want?"

"I want my body. I know you have it stored away in one of those coffins. I can't do proper magic until I'm in my own skin," Esther said.

"You should have gone to Rebekah then, she's the one with the coffins now."

"Then there will be no problem. This was her plan after all."

Klaus sneered. Now it all made so much sense as to why Rebekah had been so easy on him. She wanted her mother back. She had been plotting this the entire time. The entire time he was chasing her around the country, she must have been doing her research; figuring out a way to bring Esther back from the dead. Klaus always knew that it was a possibility. It was why he kept the coffin with his mother's body inside. It was locked by magic, he couldn't open it to truly destroy her, and now she was back.

Just then the door to the bedroom burst open. Elena, Damon, and Bonnie ran through. They must have heard all the commotion from his fighting.

"Caroline!" Elena yelled running forward, but Damon grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Elena!" Esther cried out in Caroline's voice. "He attacked me!"

Klaus knew what the scene must have looked like. Broken furniture, him holding her up against the wall but surely they wouldn't think— His head suddenly split open in pain and he crumbled to the ground.

"He attacked me last night," Bonnie said holding her hand up. Klaus groaned out in frustration. She was giving him one of her witchy aneurysms.

'Caroline' coughed a bit and ran toward Elena and the others. "He said he was going to use you to make more hybrids, build a bigger army to take out Rebekah," she said gripping Elena's arms, "but I won't let him do that to you!"

The pain in his head subsided and Klaus got to his feet. He looked at the three of them; Damon, Elena, and Bonnie. They all glared at him with contempt and loathing. Apparently they were more than willing to believe that he was ever the villain.

Damon stepped forward, "I think its time for you to leave," he sneered.

Klaus's eyes fell on Caroline. Her mouth was twisted into a small smile. Esther had won this round. But he would be back.

* * *

><p>Caroline could see everything through her own eyes, but she had no control. Esther was in control of her voice and her body. Esther was the one who fed lies to her friends and got them to turn on Klaus. She was a little disappointed that they just accepted that Klaus was evil so quickly. Well…maybe that wasn't really such a stretch.<p>

After Klaus had left, Esther had told them of a fake argument that she and Klaus had had about Klaus wanting to build up his army of hybrids to defeat Rebekah in case she woke up his brothers. She also mentioned the mysterious locked coffin and how he had revealed that it was the key to killing him.

"Klaus just let all of this spill to you?" Damon asked skeptically.

"Details here and there," Esther replied through Caroline, "none of them ever made much sense until now."

Damon nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, what are we going to do then? We can't let Klaus make any more hybrids," Bonnie said.

"I think we have to get rid of all of them. Once and for all," Esther said.

Elena looked over at her friend, a worried look crossing her face. "Caroline. Are you sure? I mean..Klaus—"

She held up a hand to stop her. Inside, Caroline was screaming, trying to break through and tell Elena the truth. "Klaus isn't who I thought he was. I made a mistake."

Her voice sounded so remorseful and small that Elena couldn't help but step forward and give her friend and giant hug. Esther squeezed back, letting a tiny fake sob escape her throat.

"Ok then," Elena said pulling back, "we find this coffin and try to open it."

Caroline continued to watch as the group formed their plan. They knew Rebekah had the coffins but they weren't sure where she was. Esther knew though and she told them right away. Her friends didn't even think to ask for an explanation as to how she knew. Did they not notice how strange she was acting? Sure it made sense that Damon wouldn't notice, but even Elena and Bonnie seemed oblivious and they had known her all their lives. Damon and Bonnie volunteered to incapacitated Rebekah, while Caroline moved the coffin to a secret location they all agreed on.

Bonnie said that she was going to run home first and grab a few books that used to belong to her Grams. Caroline could feel Esther's joy now that all of them would be sufficiently distracted on their fool's errand.

She sat on the bed with Elena now. Damon had gone downstairs to feed so that he would be as strong and ready as possible. Caroline watched her friend. She could still see everything, but it was like viewing the world through swimming goggles; everything was second hand.

"So Stefan called me last night," Elena said, eyeing the door.

Caroline felt the shock. She tried to say something, but it was Esther who replied.

"Stefan?"

"Yeah," Elena said, "first time I've heard from him since homecoming."

Esther simply nodded. Caroline was even more pissed now. She could see the hurt in Elena's face and wished she could throw her arm around her and hug her and make her feel better. She must be in agony.

"It sucked. I haven't said anything to Damon though."

"Why not?"

_Thank you,_ Caroline thought, _for at least showing _some_ amount of human empathy._

"Well its not like there's anything secretive about it. It just really hurt you know? To hear his voice. And I can't pretend it didn't. I don't know if Damon will understand that a part of me will always care about him. I just don't want to hurt Damon."

Caroline felt her head nod, then saw her eyes look away to the window.

"Elena, there is something I need to do before we continue with this plan," Caroline heard herself say, "I'll be back soon ok?"

Elena sniffed a bit and shook her head, "Yeah ok. Hurry back."

Then Esther slid off the bed and headed for the door. She felt so bad. Elena must be thinking that Caroline was the worst friend ever. Normally Caroline would have been asking her a billion questions about what happened and then telling her that Damon would totally understand and everything would be ok. But no. This stupid witch just left her friend there, alone with her thoughts.

She whipped the door open and almost ran into Damon. He grabbed her arms and steadied her. Caroline could feel Esther taking him in. Even she admired his royal blue eyes. Apparently not even thousand year old evil witches were immune to the Damon Salvatore stare.

"Whoa Barbie," Damon said.

"Sorry. Bit Clumsy," she replied.

Damon looked at her, his eyes scrutinizing her face. "You sure everything's ok with you?"

Caroline felt Esther smile wide and reply, "Yes of course. I'll return soon."

Damon nodded slowly and released her arms. Esther continued walking down the hall and out the door. Caroline suddenly realized where Esther was taking them. They were going to see Rebekah.

* * *

><p>Klaus had just gotten off the phone with one of his hybrids. Thankfully something was finally going right. The minion called to tell him that they had found Rebekah. She was in abandoned house near the outskirts of Mystic Falls. The coffins were with her. Klaus ordered the hybrids to keep close, in case he needed back up. He ran over there as quickly as he could.<p>

He walked straight into the abandoned plantation house. Its white walls were covered in vines and overgrowth that had spread into the interior. It seemed like the forest was slowly taking over the space and making it her own again. Klaus's footsteps echoed on the hardwood floors as he entered the house.

"Rebekah?" He called out his sister's name.

"In here," she replied, her voice sounding to his right.

He walked in the direction of the sound, entering a room that probably used to be the parlor. There was an old, rotting fire place at the end of it, ashes and dirt scattered all around. Inside the room were his coffins. They looked bright and shiny as they had when he'd last seen them. It had been months. He caressed each of them with the tips of his fingers as he passed, feeling the energy of his sleeping siblings within.

Rebekah stood hovering over the casket at the end. A large silvery, grey box, its lid opened to reveal the person inside. She gazed down at the body, her sad eyes taking in every detail. Klaus didn't have to look down to know who was inside. He walked up to the coffin and stood by his sister's side.

"She's beautiful isn't she?" Rebekah said.

Klaus looked down at the body of his mother. It was true. Esther was a beautiful woman. Her hands were folded silently across her stomach. She still wore the green dress she had been buried in. A thousand years of being dead and her body hadn't changed since the day he had killed her. If anything, it had improved. It had somehow healed itself from the fatal injuries Klaus had inflicted.

Rebekah reached down and smoothed her mother's long, blonde waves, tracing her hand across her forehead. Even though her body was perfect preserved, her skin still held a blue-gray tint of death.

"You figured out how to open it," Klaus said softly.

"It was a complete accident. I didn't even know it could be done until I met the witches," she said, looking up at him, "why did you never tell me?"

"I had my reasons," Klaus said.

"Damn your reasons! You're the one who killed her!"

"And now she is back and will kill me for it and for every other sin I have committed throughout my existence," he replied slowly.

Rebekah shook her head. "No. She just wants to be a family. She told me she forgives you. She wants to wake Finn and Kol and Elijah and be a family again!"

Klaus looked at his sister. His cold heart broke for her in spite of everything. All Rebekah had ever wanted throughout her entire life was to have her mother back. She would believe anything that Esther said if she thought she could get that. He hated that he would have to tell her the truth. He lifted his hands to her cheeks and cupped her face.

"Rebekah, Esther doesn't want to be a family, she wants to end us. All of us."

Her head shook ferociously between his hands. "No. Stop with the lies Nik! Stop being selfish! We are going to be together again. Always and forever."

"Rebekah," a female voice said behind them. They both turned and saw Caroline standing there.

"Mother?" Rebekah sniffed at the sight of her. Caroline/Esther nodded and opened her arms to her daughter. Rebekah ran forward and grasped her tightly, sobbing into her chest.

Esther caressed her daughter's head, softly whispering to her. "I have missed you so much my beautiful daughter. Let me look at you."

She pushed Rebekah slightly away and cupped her face in her hands. Rebekah smiled through the tears of joy in her eyes. Klaus watched the scene from across the room, the sick feeling twisting in his stomach. Esther was making it that much worse for his sister. The truth was going to be that much more heartbreaking for her to realize.

Esther released Rebekah and acknowledged him, walking in his direction. He hated watching Esther's hate and judgment pour out of Caroline's face. He had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't truly her. That Caroline was still inside her somewhere, loving him…at least he hoped.

"Niklaus I presume that you have already given your sister the news?"

Klaus's jaw ticked. "I have."

"And?"

"She did not believe me."

Esther turned back to Rebekah and smiled at her. The vampire girl returned her mother's smile with equal enthusiasm. Klaus wanted to strangle Esther, but he couldn't. He would only hurt Caroline. She then turned back toward him, walking over to inspect her body in the coffin.

"Perfect," she murmured, "Ayanna did a wonderful job of keeping my body preserved all these years."

"When can we wake the others?" Rebekah asked eagerly.

"Not just yet," Esther replied, she turned to Klaus then.

"Niklaus I want to thank you for leaving your Hybrids outside. As it turns out they will be quite useful to me." As if on cue, four of his hybrid minions entered the room.

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot do proper magic in Caroline's body, but I can draw enough power to amplify her own vampire skills. Including compulsion."

Klaus's eyes narrowed. The second before he realized it, the hybrids launched at him, grabbing his neck and snapping it hard. He saw Rebekah go down too just before he blacked out.

* * *

><p>Caroline flinched inwardly as she saw the hybrid break Klaus's neck. She knew he would be alright, it obviously wouldn't kill him, but the way his neck hung awkwardly at the wrong angle made her feel sick. Because of what little magic she could use, Esther had compelled the hybrids to help her.<p>

"Thank you boys," Esther said to the hybrids, "you two maybe go rip out your own hearts. You two, stay with me, I might need you."

The two hybrids she sentenced to death left the room in a trance, the other two stepped toward their new mistress.

"I can feel your judgment Caroline," Esther said out loud to her. Caroline was taken aback. She could hear her?

"Yes I can my dear, we share a mind currently. All of your thoughts are also mine."

_Well then you should know that everything you are doing is fucking twisted_, Caroline thought.

"Such brash language coming from such a sweet girl," Esther replied, "you remind me of my Elijah. He was good and happy and always did his best to keep everyone together no matter what."

_You don't know anything about me_, Caroline spat back at here.

"I do know you Caroline and I know that you always try to do the right thing. Can't you see that is all I want now?"

_You're trying to kill your own children, I fail to see how that is right._

"I'm trying to correct the mistake I made, centuries ago. I have no desire to end my children's lives, but I can't allow them to live after the monsters that they've become."

Caroline wanted to stomp her feet and yell at how difficult Esther was being. The woman was insane. She had to make her understand, it was the only help Caroline could possibly be at the moment.

_But they have goodness in them. I've seen it. Klaus has—_

Esther cut her off. "You think he's changed Caroline? You think Klaus has redeemed himself because he loves you? Caroline do you know what Klaus was doing while he was chasing Rebekah? Leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Girls. Young girls. And he created more hybrids, which means he will be needing more of your friend's blood. Will you subject poor Elena to that for the rest of her life?"

_Stop it,_ Caroline mentally yelled, _I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to manipulate me._

"I've seen my son think he was in love before and it always ends in tragedy. He'll tire of you or you'll disappoint him and he will kill you. It has happened dozens of times over the centuries. Every girl thinks they're different, that they will be the one, but they all have one thing in common; they are all deadly wrong."

* * *

><p><strong>So I had the idea of bringing Esther in with this mission before I had seen the episode in which she came back and then it came out and I thought "well dang, there goes my idea" but I'm not strictly copying her story. Just a bit of her motivations. I'm also depicting her as a bit more deranged than in the show. Just because I think after a thousand years in whatever purgatory she was in, she'd be a little sick and batty.<strong>

**Anyways, I wanna know what YOU think! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :D**

**check out HybridLovelies on Tumblr  
>for extra Klaroline drabbles to get you through this hiatus.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello Everyone! Finally! An update! It's been SO LONG! First of all, let me just apologize to all you faithful readers. If you haven't been keeping up with my on Tumblr, I've been kinda MIA on my fanfics for the past two weeks because I've been super stressed and busy with school. Getting ready to graduate means I've had LOADS to do. However, my spring break has arrived so I'm hoping that in the free time I will get LOTS of writing done and be able to update ALL of my fics :)**

**So thank you thank you thank you for being patient and for the support and reading and all the loveliness!**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

><p>Klaus awoke, a sharp pain in his head. He cracked his neck to the side and heard the bones loudly snap back into to place. Across the room, Rebekah began to stir, groaning and rubbing her head. He sat up on the floor and took a moment to look around. Esther was gone. The coffin with her body was missing as well.<p>

Klaus muttered a few choice words under his breath. Esther had outwitted him. He hated nothing more than being outsmarted. He would have to call off his hybrids so that she wouldn't be able to use any more of them. Most importantly, he needed to figure out the spells Esther was using. He couldn't do magic himself, but he had had plenty of years to study up a bit and know the ins and outs of spell work. Obviously whatever she was using was similar to what he had used when he first came to Mystic Falls, and had hidden himself inside Alaric Salztman's body. The problem with that was, he would need a vacant body for Esther to jump into and right now he was short on those.

There was no way he could let Esther get back into her own body. Yes it would be easier to kill her then, she would be human again after all, but she would also have legion of angry witches behind her on this unholy mission, granting her access to all their power. He recalled the night of the sacrifice and the way the Bennett witch had reduced him to nothing more than a weak child with her entire blood line at her fingertips.

Klaus was wracking his brain, but coming up with nothing. He let out a frustrated yell. Then suddenly he heard Rebekah sniffle from her seat on the floor. He crawled over to her, laying a hand on her arm.

"Rebekah are you alright?" Klaus asked, concern painting his face.

"She hates us," Rebekah said sadly, "she hates us for something that was her fault."

Klaus had to give a small laugh. Now Rebekah was experiencing something that he had known his whole life. Familial rejection.

"Now you know why I killed her," Klaus said quietly. "Rebekah I need you to listen to me. I need you to tell me anything you can about Esther's plans."

"Like what?"

Klaus grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. "Anything. How did she say she was going to kill me? Did she mention it?"

"A dagger. It was something she told me about. She told me where it was and how to find it. She said with the right spell and a bit of the doppelganger's blood, it would kill you."

"Where is this dagger now? What did you do with it?"

"I stashed it in the Salvatore house when I came to see you last night."

Klaus gave her an incredulous look. "The Salvatore house? Why there?"

Rebekah snickered, the tears drying from her eyes. "Always hide it right under their noses. It's the last place anyone will look. _You_ taught me that."

Klaus smiled and gave her arm a brotherly squeeze. "That's my girl." He stood up off the ground then, pulling Rebekah with him. "Come on. We need to get to the Salvatore house."

They strode out of the abandoned house together. Klaus stepped over the dead bodies of two of his hybrids. He hoped that Esther hadn't already gotten the dagger back or the doppelganger's blood.

Klaus arrived at the boarding house a few minutes later with Rebekah. They approached carefully, in case Esther was still around. The walked up to the door and opened it, sneaking into the house. All was quite. He didn't hear any sign of Damon or the doppelganger or anyone else.

"So where is this dagger?" Klaus whispered to his sister.

She nodded down the hall towards a small table. "There, in that drawer, under some old papers."

Klaus and Rebekah crept forward, careful not to let old squeaky floorboards give away their presence. They stood in front of the decorative table. Klaus grasped the brass handle and gave it a gentle tug, slipping the drawer open. Rebekah pawed through the papers, but found no dagger.

"It's not here. She must have it already," Rebekah said dejectedly.

"Looking for something?"

The two of them spun around to see Damon standing behind them, an unamused look spread across his face.

"Not any of your business Damon," Klaus said.

"Actually, wrong. You're snooping in my house, so it is in fact, _my_ business."

"And what do you plan to do it about it?" Klaus challenged.

Damon rolled his shoulders and stepped forward, but before he could follow through with the unspoken threat, Rebekah flashed in front of him, gripping his throat in her hands.

"I wouldn't if I were you," she growled, teeth bared.

"I guess you two made up," Damon squeaked out.

Klaus crossed his arms, trying to suppress a grin, "Let him go Rebekah."

She released him with a toss and backed away, standing near her brother again.

"Actually you _are_ right Damon," Klaus said, "this does concern you. Because it also concerns your doppelganger love."

Damon narrowed his crystal eyes at the hybrid. "What about Elena?"

"Where is she? Is she safe?"

"Of course she's safe, she's upstairs with Caroline. "

As soon as he said it, a loud crash came from upstairs. The three of them exchanged quick glances and then ran up the stairs at supernatural speed. Damon whipped open the door to his bedroom, where he had left Elena with Caroline, but they were gone. One of the windows was wide open, the curtain billowing in the wind.

"Esther must have taken her," Rebekah said.

"Fuck," Klaus muttered, "and she has the dagger." So much for plan A.

"Someone better explain what is going on. Fast." Damon growled at the two of them.

"Well isn't this poetic. Now it's you having to worry," Klaus retorted, echoing Damon's earlier words.

Damon snarled at the hybrid, but Klaus ignored him. He quickly explained what had really taken place earlier that morning with Caroline and his mother. Then told him about Esther's plan and Elena's involvement in it all.

"I knew something was wrong with Blondie. She just wasn't her usual peppy self," Damon said rubbing a hand in his hair, "not to mention it was a little crazy how fast she was supposedly willing to ditch you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Klaus quipped.

Damon scoffed. "I just knew it was too good to be true." He paced back and forth a couple times then stopped and looked at Klaus again.

"So what's the plan?"

"Stop Esther before she can complete the spell on the dagger," Rebekah said.

"And how do we do that?"

"We kill her," Klaus said coldly.

"And I'll be the one who does it," Rebekah announced. Klaus turned toward her then in surprise.

"Rebekah…"

"Nik, I need to be the one who does this."

He looked into his baby sister's deep eyes, seeing the seriousness and resolve in her wish. He understood why she was saying this. He had been in her position once. But he also wasn't about to let Rebekah do this to herself. Yes she was bad tempered and ruthless and without much conscience, but he just couldn't let her commit this particular sin.

"Whoever has the opportunity will do it," Klaus replied, knowing that he would make sure that it would be him.

"Hang on a second," Damon said interrupting, "I want you guys dead anyways. Why am I helping you again?"

"Because if you don't I'll kill the doppelganger as soon as I find them so Esther can't use her blood."

Damon considered him. "You wouldn't. You couldn't make your precious hybrids then."

Klaus smirked. "No point in a hybrid army if I'm not alive to enjoy them."

Damon conceded then. He was obviously backed into a corner. They continued discussing their plan, filling Damon in on his part in it all. Soon enough, one of the hybrids reported Esther's location to Klaus. It was time to head out, and finish Esther off. This time, for good.

Caroline couldn't believe where she was, or what she had had to watch happen for the past hour. The sun was going down over Mystic Falls and the moon was rising in the sky. Esther had ordered the hybrids to bring the coffin with her body to a particular location. Then Esther went back to the Salvatore house, pretending to be Elena, so that she could attack her and kidnap her. After that she had brought them here.

She looked out at the familiar green grass, the white painted strips running across it, and the metal bleachers that surrounded them on either side. They were smack in the middle of the Mystic Falls High School football field.

_Go Timberwolves_, Caroline thought.

Elena began to stir awake where she lay on the ground as Esther lit the last of her white candles. The girl rubbed her eyes and sat up, trying to get her bearings. Her gaze immediately went to Caroline and she shot off the ground, ready to run if she needed to.

"Now Elena, you know there is no point in running, I'll just drag you back if you do," Esther said in Caroline's voice.

"Caroline what is going on? Is this something Klaus is making you do?"

"No Elena, but I _am_ doing this because of Niklaus."

"I don't understand."

Esther's flicked her gaze up to Elena and Caroline was finally able to see her head on. Her poor friend's cheek was split and bleeding and she looked utterly confused.

"I am going to kill Niklaus."

Elena shook her head. "How? He's invincible."

"Not to me he isn't. But I need your help first." Esther walked around the coffin and over to Elena. She shrank back a bit in fear.

"What do you want?"

"I need your blood. Just one drop. That is all."

"My blood? Caroline I—"

Esther cut her off. "I suppose this would all be easier and less confusing for you if I went ahead and revealed to you that I am not your friend Caroline. I am simply borrowing her body for a short while."

"Then who—"

"Think child. Who would want Niklaus and all the originals dead more than anyone in the entire world?"  
>Elena considered her words. She knew Damon would definitely be at the top of that list, but she also knew that this wasn't him or his doing. The only other person she could think of was Mikael and he was dead. But then there was <em>one<em> other…but no that would be impossible.

"Esther?" Caroline felt her head nod up and down and saw Elena's eyes go wide in surprise. "How?"

"It's a very long story and one that I do not desire to explain again," Esther said producing a dagger from its sheath at her waist, "now I will be requiring your blood."

Klaus, Rebekah, and Damon watched from the shadows of the bleachers as Esther spoke to Elena. Damon couldn't stop his anxious twitching anxious as he looked on. It was getting on Klaus's nerves. Damon had no reason to fear, Elena was perfectly safe. Caroline on the other hand…Klaus wasn't sure what would happen to her. He knew that Caroline could survive the transition once Esther left her body, as long as Esther _let_ her. She could decide to kill Caroline as further punishment to him. He was well aware of the serious chance he was taking. He was gambling with her life and he didn't like it at all. But as always he was forced to do what had to be done.

"If that witch hurts Elena, I'll snap her neck, I don't give a fuck if she's in blondie's body," Damon whispered. Klaus glared at him from the corner of his eye. If that vampire so much as made a single move to hurt Caroline, he would be the one getting his neck snapped.

"She's about to take Elena's blood," Rebekah said, "we should go now."

Klaus turned to his sister. "You're sure you want to do this?"

He didn't know why he was asking. He wanted Caroline and his family safe above anything else, and this was the only way to accomplish that. But Rebekah, she'd always idolized their mother, always wanted her back. He could see how much the woman's betrayal was destroying her. But at the same time, he could see the determination in his sister's dark blue eyes, the hard set of her jaw that told him she was sure of the decision that she was making. It made him glad that his sister was back on his side.

"We stick together," she said grasping his hand, "always and forever."

Klaus gave her hand a small squeeze and nodded.

"This is all very touching," Damon said, "but time's a-wastin'"

Klaus saw Rebekah roll her eyes and then turn, stepping forward. The boys followed her, the three of them walking out of the shadows and onto the football field.

"Ah, children, so good of you to come," Esther said, standing next to her coffin with Elena in her grasp.

The stadium lights illuminated the scene, the harsh white light glaring angrily off the silver coffin. A group of hybrids stood around, protectively, still under Esther's compulsion.

"Elena here was just about to cooperate and donate to my cause," the witch continued, brandishing a large, ornate dagger.

"You touch her and you're dead," Damon growled.

"We'll see about that," Esther challenged. She grabbed Elena's forearm and pressed the dagger to it, drawing the slightest amount of blood. Elena clenched her teeth and hissed in pain. Klaus noticed Damon take a half step forward and mentally willed him to hold himself together.

"Thank you my dear," Esther said sweetly, "your part is done."

The doppelganger's thick, red blood coated the steel of the dagger. The scent swirled in the air. It had always been different; sweet and dangerous all at the same time, like a forbidden fruit. Elena looked at Esther, confused, until she realized she was being let go. She ran over toward Damon. He met her halfway and quickly pulled her back behind him, standing in front of her protectively.

"What's going on," she whispered, taking her jacket off and wrapping it around her arm to staunch the blood flow.

"Don't worry, we have a plan," Damon said through his teeth.

"With them? I thought Klaus was the bad guy?"

"Not right now he isn't."

Klaus would have smirked at the backhanded comment, but his eyes were trained on Esther and the dagger. Now it was all up to chance. His hands clenched at his sides. He felt Rebekah's rage increasing next to him as she shifted slightly from foot to foot. Esther held the dagger in Caroline's hand twisting it in her grasp. He stood there, counting the breaths trying to anticipate Esther's next move. Each possible scenario flashed through his mind.. The seconds ticked away as they all stood there. Waiting. Waiting for someone to make the first move. Would she kill him in her own body or in Caroline's? And what was he going to do if she chose the latter?

Esther stood there, in front of the coffin, two of the hybrids closed in next to her. She smiled and blew a kiss in their direction, waving. She looked every bit the teenage mean girl. Klaus's gaze narrowed and them suddenly he watched the change over take her face. The wicked smile melted away to a look of surprise, the blue of her eyes brightened and the hard lines of her cheeks softened. Her gaze caught his as she stumbled forward, her hand reaching out.

"Klaus!" Caroline yelled, it was definitely Caroline's voice.

Before he could take a single step, she fell forward and hit the ground.

* * *

><p><strong>So let me know what you think?<strong>

**I hope everything with this chapter is ok...I'm updating this as I'm about to go to sleep after a very long day/week, but I really wanted everyone to have something to read :)**

**Reviews are love 3**

_**Follow me on Tumblr at HybridLovelies**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Another update so soon! A lot sooner than usual lately. I thought you all wouldn't mind! **

**Enjoy :)**

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><p>This time it was Rebekah and Damon holding Klaus back from running to Caroline. Was she dead? The dagger lay next to her unmoving, outstretched hand.<p>

"Rebekah, the dagger," Damon seemed to have read his mind.

She nodded once and stepped forward to go retrieve it. But before she could do so, she dropped to her knees and cried out in pain. Damon growled too and lifted his hands to his head, grasping at his hair and stumbling back. It hit Klaus last. The brain bursting aneurysm that only a witch could produce. It felt like every synapse and vein was bursting inside of his head. It seemed like an eternity, but the pain only lasted a couple seconds.

"What the hell?" Damon snarled, "Did Bonnie tag along on this adventure?"

"No," Klaus replied. Damon looked at him and the hybrid nodded toward the coffin.

The door flung open with a violent _woosh_. The hybrids next to it backed away fearfully. Klaus saw Esther's long arms stretch to the sky and fold over the casket to grasp on to the sides. She sat up and twisted around, opening the other end of the coffin and allowing her legs to stretch. In one lithe, fluid movement, she swung her legs over the edge and sprang from the box, her green skirts twirling around her.

Esther took a deep breath and let it out, smoothing down her dress.

"Now that's more like it," she said smiling and observing the scene around her.

A soft groan came from the ground as Caroline lifted her head, rubbing at her temple. Klaus felt some of the tension leave his body. She was still alive. Esther had let her survive the transition. Thank fucking god.

"Wha—" Caroline murmured coming to a sitting position. She turned around and looked up. She saw Esther standing there over her, staring down. Caroline recognized the woman, even though she had never seen her. It made sense though. They had been sharing a brain. Caroline had seen her face in her mind's eye.

"You," Caroline growled, narrowing her gaze at the witch. Her fangs dropped and she lunged forward. But Esther stopped her with a flick of her hand, sending flying her back toward the ground.

"Ah-ah, Caroline," Esther purred, "I let you live. You should be grateful."

"I won't let you do this," Caroline said.

Esther laughed at her determination, which only irritated Caroline more. The woman signaled one of the hybrids with another flick of her hand and he moved forward, grabbing Caroline by the arms and dragging her up and away.

Caroline struggled against him, trying to break his grip, but he was stronger than her and her body was weak.

"Now then," Esther said walking over to the dagger and picking it up off the ground, "which of you wants to die first?"

"You really think you can beat us mother?" Klaus said, "You created us. You know our strength."

"Of course Niklaus," Esther replied, "but I have come prepared."

Esther raised her hands. Klaus felt a rush of wind. He tried to move and found he couldn't. His legs wouldn't work. His head spun to Rebekah and saw her in a similar state. Behind him Damon was struggling too. Caroline was still in the hybrid's grasp, but holding onto her was mostly useless at this point.

"Very brave mother," Klaus mocked.

"I never cared for your attitude Niklaus," she sneered and moved toward him," don't worry, I do not relish having to do this, your retribution will be swift." Somehow Klaus doubted that.

She approached him slowly, waving the dagger in front of her body. There was a madness about Esther that hadn't possessed her when she was alive. Klaus recognized that her years trapped in whatever limbo she was in changed her. His mother was hateful before, but she was never murderous or violent. That was always Mikael. She was a completely different woman than the one he had known in the past.

Esther stood very close to him now; he could see the madness reflected in her hazel eyes up close. The power of a legion of witches radiated off of her as she held him immobile. She pressed the flat of the blade into his cheek, the magical coldness of the dagger biting into his skin.

"Any last words my son?"

"Just one," Klaus said, "attack."

Esther's eyes narrowed in confusion and then suddenly a hybrid came barreling into her. Klaus had made a guess and he guessed correctly. Her limited compulsion abilities had been broken when she left Caroline's body. Klaus's hybrid knocked her away and her hold over him and the rest of the vampires was broken. Caroline swung her elbow back and slammed it into the hybrid holding her. He released her with an 'oof' and then the fight was on.

Esther quickly turned to the hybrids, trying to gain control of them again. Without their extra protection, it would be easier for Klaus and Rebekah to subdue her. She was successful, they turned and immediately started fighting against their creator. Others ran off the field like cowards. Caroline started grappling with the one who had held onto her before. Klaus could here her grunts and growls as he also fought his way toward Esther. It was good. It meant she was alive. He punched and twisted through the riot, noticing Rebekah snap the head off another hybrid. Meanwhile, Damon was retreating away with Elena, keeping the doppelganger far out of harm's way.

One of the hybrids ran forward and slammed into him, knocking Klaus to the ground. Klaus groaned as he flipped the man over and stomped his foot into his chest. Really these hybrids had been more of a nuisance than a savior ever since he created them. He grabbed the man off the ground and glared into his eyes, compelling him free of the spell and sending him back into the fight, this time fighting for Klaus instead of against him. Esther backed away near her coffin, trying to focus her powers. She couldn't hold them and control the hybrids and make her kills all at the same time.

Caroline saw Klaus go down and tried to rush toward him, but another hybrid cut a punch to her jaw as she tried to move. She felt her teeth clamp together and bite down on her tongue. Blood flowed into her mouth. She spit it out to the side and glared at her assaulter.

"You're lucky that won't leave a mark," she growled and lunged at the hybrid.

Caroline swung her own fist back and then forward, connecting with the hybrid's cheek and knocking him to the ground. She stood over him and kicked him in the stomach, flipping him over with the force of the blow. The hybrid groaned in pain and Caroline flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"Mess with me again, I dare you."

Klaus felt another wave of magic rip through the air. Esther was still trying to stop them. He heard Rebekah cry out, but the magic wasn't affecting him nearly as much. He was different. Stronger. He looked toward his sister and saw her stumble back a bit, but recover and rip the heart from another hybrid.

He trained his eyes on Esther, watching her chant besides the coffin, feeding power and life into her weapon, making herself as invincible as she could. He had to get to her now. Had to kill her before she had the chance to cause anymore harm. He stalked across the field toward her, dodging the hybrids, flicking anyone who came at him away like so much junk. Esther's eyes snapped up and met his, the glare of hatred there was unmistakable.

_You were my greatest mistake Niklaus_, he heard her voice inside his head.

A thousand years ago her words would have cut through him like a knife. A thousand years ago when he was a weak little boy, desperate for love, for his mother's affections and his father's approval. But he'd had a thousand years to harden his heart to her. A thousand years to find something else to live for. He was an original vampire, a hybrid, the greatest and most powerful being on the planet and her petty hatred would not break him down.

Klaus ran toward her then. He felt another thrum of magic hit him, but her attempt to hold him at bay failed and he kept running toward her. Esther held the knife toward her at the ready, daring him to run straight into it. Klaus dodged the weapon and ran straight into her, knocking her to the ground. The knife went flying across the field.

Esther shot back, using all her power to knock him away from her. This time he felt it. He somersaulted backwards far away from Esther. He sat up and regained his bearings looking around for the dagger.

"Nik I've got it," Rebekah yelled, holding the dagger up from the ground. Before Klaus could crack a smile, two hybrids lunged at her, one grabbing hold of her arms and the other snatched away the dagger, holding it in front of her heart. Rebekah gasped and Klaus started forward, until her heard Esther's voice behind him.

"I wouldn't if I were you Niklaus."

He stopped short and whipped toward her. But all the bravado left him as he took in the sight behind him.

Esther had a hold on Caroline, her arm was buried inside Caroline's chest, hands squeezing at the girl's heart. A few tears escaped, rolling down Caroline's face as she gritted her teeth in pain. Blood covered her mouth and chest, some of it hers and some of it not. She winced slightly, apologetically, as his eyes met hers, as if everything was _her_ fault.

"Time to choose Niklaus," Esther commanded, "save your sister and the dagger or save the girl you love. Which will it be."

Klaus looked behind him again at Rebekah. She struggled against the hybrids, the magicked dagger hovering at her heart. He looked at Rebekah and saw the past thousand years. His baby sister who he loved, despite everything they had been through. He had gone through heaven and hell to protect her from a thousand different enemies. Their relationship wasn't perfect, no pair of siblings ever was, but it was theirs and he wouldn't have traded a moment of it for anything. Everything he had done, he had done in part for her, for all of his siblings. She stood there, her eyes begging him to save her; the dagger over her heart calling out to him to take up arms and end this battle with his mother. The chance to finally bring his family together like he always wanted.

Then his gaze went back to Caroline. She stood there brave and tall, trying not to cry, trying her best not to reveal any of the fear that she may be feeling. If Rebekah represented his past, Caroline was his future. She was the one that showed him he was still capable of love, still capable of caring about someone outside of himself. Caroline showed him that he was worthy of another's love. That someone would love him even when he was a cold and heartless murdering bastard. The feel of Caroline's arms, the safety he felt there, he would never find that anywhere else in the world. He had been looking for a thousand years until he met her, never having realized that she was exactly what he was looking for. Her brightness, her life, her determination; the world needed her. _He_ needed her.

"My patience is waning, " Esther pushed, "make a choice."

Klaus looked between the two girls again. Taking a deep breath. Rebekah or Caroline. Caroline or Rebekah. He looked down at the ground, squeezing his eyes shut, hoping that he could make all of this go away by sheer will power. How could he possibly choose? Then he heard a rushing sounded, followed by a crunch and a quick gasp. His stomach dropped.

His eyes snapped open and he looked toward Esther and Caroline. Caroline had fallen to the ground. And Esther was being held back by her throat, over the side of her coffin by-

"Kol?"

Klaus's younger brother smirked. "Hello mother. Good to see you again."

Klaus's eyes widened and then he spun around to see Elijah take out the two hybrids holding onto Rebekah. Rebekah shook them off and each sibling dispatched one of them. The girl grasped the knife in her hand.

"Elijah," Rebekah nodded.

"Rebekah." A slow smile spread across the eldest original's face. "Shall we assist Kol?"

The two of them walked forward to where Kol was still holding on to Esther. Her magic was making it a bit difficult, but it became easier once Elijah and Rebekah joined them.

Klaus suddenly remembered Caroline and ran to her side, kneeling next to her on the ground. She was covered in blood, but alive, heart intact in her chest where it should be. His hands ghosted over her, checking her injuries.

"I'm fine," she said, "I'm alright. I promise."

Klaus brushed the hair away from her face and cupped her cheeks in his hands. He kissed her quickly, the blood on her lips smearing against his.

"Caroline I—"

"You need to go deal with your family," she said looking up at him. Her own hands came up and covered his. "Go."

Behind Caroline he saw Elena running toward her friend, Damon following close behind. Damon had stuck to the plan their earlier plan. Klaus nodded and joined his siblings.

Kol, Elijah, and Rebekah stood around their mother holding her at bay. Her powers weren't strong enough to keep them all back. Apparently Esther had been boasting when she said she had come prepared to fight them. Maybe she was ready to take on just Rebekah and himself, but defeating four original vampires was no easy feat.

The woman struggled and growled against the strength of her children.

"Death has made her feisty," Kol mocked.

"Shut up Kol," Klaus said approaching them. He yanked the dagger from Rebekah's hand and pushed her out of the way.

"Nik, you said I could do it, that I would be the one," Rebekah argued, but he ignored her.

"Yes _Nik_, you got to kill her the first time," Kol said.

Klaus looked into his mother's cold eyes. "I'll just find another way back," the woman whispered, "you know I will. You are all monsters."

Klaus's jaw ticked back and forth as he tightened his grip on the knife. "You made us this way."

"No," she said, "I made you immortal. I protected you. You chose to become abominations."

Klaus's eyes flicked to each of his siblings. To Kol, who had suddenly become bloodthirsty and hateful. To Elijah, who looked on with a cold passivity. Finally to Rebekah who stood there betrayed and hurt but as stoic as ever, all of them more than ready to end their own mother's life.

"I think we all owe you this time mother," Klaus said nodding to each sibling.

The three nodded back and each of them placed a hand on the dagger. Together they pushed the knife through Esther's flesh. The knife made a sick squishing sound as it slipped effortlessly into her body. Blood began to pour from the wound. The spell on the blade ignited her skin and her screamed ripped through the night. A bright white light flashed, blinding them all, the force of the magic throwing them all back against the ground. Esther's scream echoed in the air and then faded as the stadium lights dimmed and darkness took over.

Klaus sat on the ground, dragging a hand over his face. Esther's body was completely gone. She was gone. Gone for good.

Suddenly blue and red lights illuminated the field and the sound of a police siren broke through the silence. Klaus twisted around to see Sheriff Forbes and half the Mystic Falls police force behind her, guns raised at them all.

She her voice boomed across the field. "What the _hell_ is going on here?"

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><p><strong>Ok, really trying to work on my action writing a bit. But hopefully it made sense and was moderately exciting haha. I've been working on this story quite a bit this evening and I realize that for this being a Klaroline story, there hasn't been a whole lot of Klaus and Caroline interaction. Yet you guys are still reading it, so thank you! I'm glad that you all like it enough to stick with it. And don't worry, there will be some good moments before the end :)<strong>

**Also, who do you think Klaus would have chosen to save? Caroline or Rebekah? Let me know what you think!  
><strong>

**I would love some feedback on this story too, since I haven't gotten much so far!**

**Reviews are what keep me going. They are to writers what blood is to vampires ;)**

_**follow hybridlovelies on tumblr**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! I know this chapter is WAY shorter than all the rest, but mostly because I want to get the last chapter JUST RIGHT! So yes, that means one more chapter to go before I close out this story. **

**BUT, to make up for it, I've included a little gift: at the bottom is the preview for my new Klaroline time travel fic. I had a million requests on Tumblr to write it so I gave in :) I posted the preview on Tumblr, but I know not all of you have that so here you go :) **

**Let me know what you think of this story and the new one in reviews!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Days later, Caroline sat on her couch, flipping through the tv channels. But she wasn't even paying attention to anything that was on. It was prom night and she was at home.<p>

After Esther was killed, her own mother had shown up to the scene. Apparently the principal had been called about the field lights being on and he sent security to investigate. The security guard had witnessed the whole bloody scene and called the cops. Luckily, her mother intercepted the call. She had shown up with a handful of cops who were well aware of the vampires and also the school principal, who was on the town council.

Kol, Rebekah, and Elijah had quickly fled the scene. Klaus stayed behind long enough to make sure Caroline was ok, before she gave him a long look that said _get out of here. _Elena, Damon, and herself were there to pick up the mess.

The three of them were hauled back to the police station in the back of cop cars and Elena and Caroline were escorted into her mother's office.

"What the hell was going on tonight?" Liz yelled at the girls. "I get calls about dead bodies, hearts torn out on the football field, right in the open? Do you want the whole town finding out about vampires again?"

"No," Elena said, "but this was kind of unavoidable."

"So what happened?" Liz asked again.

"It's kind of a long story," Caroline said.

Her mother gave her a serious mom look. "Start talking young lady."

Caroline opened her mouth and quickly began telling her mother the events of the past two days, trying to leave out some of the more violent parts that she had been involved in. Liz listened quietly, remaining a true professional. She looked on at Caroline more like a concerned Sheriff and less like a mother.

"Go easy on the girls Liz," Damon said strolling in, "it's really not their fault."

"How did you get out of your cell?" Liz asked Damon.

"Um, hello, I'm a vampire."

The sheriff rolled her eyes. "Fine. Then get out there and start compelling everyone who saw anything tonight."

Damon smirked but agreed and left the girls alone again.

"We can't compel the principal though," Liz said reluctantly, "you both are suspended for week. The story we're giving out is that a group of you were partying on the football field. We found you there drunk and took you in."

"Suspended?" Caroline screeched, "For a week? But mom, prom is next week!"

"There will be no prom for you Caroline. Either of you. This is the consequence of your decisions young lady."

Caroline glared at her mother and folded her arms across her chest in anger. Her clothes and face and hair were still all bloodied from the melee. This wasn't fair. It wasn't her fault she was vampire or that her boyfriend was a hybrid or that he had a vengeful family.

So that was how she found herself alone, on prom night, on her couch at home. Her dreams of being prom queen were over. An important high school right of passage was taken away from her. She would never have another high school prom. Klaus had told her over the phone that he would take her to every high school prom for the next decade if she wanted, but it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be the rented limo and pictures with her friends and being crowned queen of Mystic Falls High.

That was another thing that was bumming her out. Klaus was gone. Again. And she was having to be understanding. Again. He was sorting things out with his siblings. Making sure they weren't going to try and kill him, or pull anything like Rebekah had and go after her. According to Klaus, he and Rebekah had patched everything up, but Caroline doubted she would ever fully trust the girl. She didn't understand their family dynamic one bit. Maybe it was because she didn't have any brothers or sisters of her own.

"Alright, I'm off," her mom said fastening her gun belt and heading for the door. It was prom and therefore Liz Forbes was on duty this evening.

"Great, have fun at _my_ prom," Caroline muttered.

Liz gave her a heavy sigh and crossed the room, sitting down on the coffee table in front of her daughter.

"Caroline, I'm sorry that you don't get to have a prom. But there was really nothing I could do."

"You could tell them it wasn't my fault! I didn't get body snatched by the wicked witch of Mystic Falls on purpose!"

"Look, I know that none of this is your fault. That you didn't choose to be a vampire, that none of your friends chose any of the paths they're on right now, its just—"

Caroline looked at her mom, noticing the tears glistening in her eyes. "What mom?"

"Sweetie, you're going to live forever. I'm not. I worry about you sometimes. And not in the way all parents worry whether or not their kids will be ok after they're gone, but if you're going to be ok for the next 50 years or the next 50 or the next 100."

Liz's voice was thick with tears. Caroline's brows knitted together. She never really thought about it much. She didn't think about not having her mom or dad around. But it was true. In 50 years she would still be 17 and her parents would be…

"Mom, I promise I'm going to be fine," Caroline said, taking her mother's hand and giving it a little squeeze.

"I need to parent you while I still can. Even though you are a vampire and you can do anything, you need to learn that there will always be consequences for your actions."

Her mom squeezed her hand back and stood up, giving her a small smile. Caroline tried her best to smile back. It still wasn't fair, but she understood what her mom was trying to say.

Liz walked to the front door, but turned around again before she stepped out.

"I'll be out all night and home late," she said, "I probably wouldn't notice if you snuck out and went over to Elena's or something."

Caroline smiled. "Thanks mom."

Liz nodded and shut the door behind her.

An hour later, she had texted Bonnie and Matt telling them to have fun at prom. They both texted her back saying they wish she was there. She texted Elena too, but there was no answer. She was probably with Damon. Caroline shook her head. That was still gross to think about.

In an hour's time she had already busted through two blood bags and a pint of ice cream. If she was going to stuck at home sulking, she would be eating her feelings. Just as she opened a second pint of Ben and Jerry's, her doorbell rang. Everyone she knew was either at prom or busy elsewhere. Maybe it was Klaus? She hoped so. She could definitely use her boyfriend right now.

She answered the door and the smile fell from her face. No one was there. But then a large package on the doorstep caught her eye. She bent over and picked it up, bringing it inside. The box was quite big, with a large white ribbon tied around it. There was a note on top. Caroline opened it and slipped out a small card.

_You have thirty minutes._

It mysteriously read. Caroline shook her head in confusion and opened the box. She gasped as she saw what was inside. Folded under the tissue paper was a beautiful blue ball gown. The material sparkled in the light and the bodice was covered in tiny blue and silver rhinestones. She carefully unfolded it and pressed the dress to her body. It was perfect. She smiled to herself, realizing who must have sent this. Then she dashed off to her room. Even at vampire speed, thirty minutes wouldn't be nearly enough time to get ready. 

* * *

><p>Klaus stood on the balcony of one of the rooms at the Salvatore boarding house. Much to Damon's chagrin, the hybrid had invited himself to stay there for the time being, along with all of his siblings. He sipped at a tumbler of scotch and stared out at the moonlight. He'd just received a text from Caroline. <em>Thanks for the dress<em>, she had said. He smiled and took another drink. At least he could do something nice for her after everything she had been put through because of him.

"Kol and Elijah are gone," Rebekah said from behind him.

"Are you leaving too then?" Klaus asked.

It had been a rough week becoming reacquainted with his siblings. He had taken a big risk when they had decided to bring them in as backup to destroy Esther. Klaus knew that all of them had reasons to be angry with him. In fact that left Finn daggered just because they knew he would side with their mother no matter what. Finn had always hated their existence.

Kol and Elijah were indeed not at all happy with their half-brother, but it seemed a common enemy united them all.

"If anyone is going to kill you brother, it's going to be me," Kol had said to him, devious smirk painted across his face. Maybe the words were empty and maybe they weren't. Only time would tell.

"I think I want to stay a while. Finish high school. It was kind of fun actually," Rebekah said taking his glass and stealing a sip of alcohol.

"Well rule number one, it is illegal for high schoolers to drink," Klaus said snatching the glass back.

"Right. I'll remember that the next time I see you trying to get your little blonde girlfriend liquored up," Rebekah laughed. But her laughter faded away awkwardly and her eyes turned serious.

"I know you would have picked me Nik," she said, "I know you would have saved me over her."

Klaus looked into his sister's eyes. Her words _said_ she knew, but the tone of her voice said that she wasn't sure. He understood the question beneath her statement. She needed reassurance. Somehow he had just known that one of them was going to ask him this question. After a week he thought that he was home free, but apparently Rebekah had only been trying to pluck up the courage and mention it.

Truthfully, he couldn't remember what he had decided to do in that moment. It all had been overshadowed by the shock and relief of seeing Kol and Elijah there at the rescue. He truly didn't know which girl he would have chosen to save. He hated that more than anything; that he really did not know.

Klaus reached for his sister, and cupped her cheek. She gave him a small smile. He took a deep breath, unsure how to answer her question, but completely sure of what he was about to say.

"I love you Rebekah, don't ever doubt that," he said, his eyes narrowed at her then, "but if you ever come after Caroline again. I _will_ end you."

With that his hand dropped and he gulped down the rest of his drink, heading back inside.

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><p><strong>And now for the preview of my next fic :) Hope you like it!<strong>

**I've basically decided to set during the time between season 2 and 3. So Caroline's isn't with Tyler. Klaus has figured out how to become and hybrid. And basically the ladies decide to take matters into their own hands about what to do about Klaus.**

**Be warned this is a first draft and unedited so it is subject to change when it does finally get published on here!**

**Let me know what you think!**

Caroline could hear the birds tweeting happily outside her room. She groaned. Her head was killing her. Damn birds. What did they have to be so happy about anyways? She rolled over and reached for her pillow immediately smashing her head on something very cold and hard.

She rubbed her forehead with her hand and her eyes opened. There was a large rock just in front of her face. She rolled onto her back again staring up. Mile high trees greeted her, rays of sun streaming through their branches. A flock of birds flapped their wings and flew from the trees over her head.

Caroline's breathing became rapid as she sat up, looking around her. She was in the middle of a forest, sitting in the moss and dirt. She pulled her navy blue jacket tight around her body and assessed the situation. The fog in her brain slowly lifted and she remembered. She remembered why she was waking up in a forest instead of in her own bed.

"Bonnie?" She called out, her head whipping frantically around. No answer. No sign of her witchy friend.

It seemed like only a few moments ago that she had been inside Bonnie's house, just after midnight in Mystic Falls.

"Ok, we have Klaus's possession and we have the daggers," Bonnie had said laying everything out on the floor in front of them. Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie sat on the floor in a circle in Bonnie's living room, white candles glowing all around them.

"Why do we need something of Klaus's?" Elena asked again.

"Most spells like this require a personal possession," Bonnie explained, "and we'll use that possession as a marker. Something from the time period we are trying to get into."

Caroline had taken a severe chance earlier when she broke into Klaus's apartment to steal something of his. It had to be her though. Elena or Bonnie would have been killed quickly if caught and they were telling any of the boys about this plan of theirs. Damon and Stefan always seemed to be screwing things up lately. It was definitely time for the women to step in and get things done.

Caroline twisted a chain in her hand, a small cross charm at the end of it. It was one of those necklaces Klaus was always wearing. Bonnie had told her to get something old and this looked very old. Ancient even. There were scratches and dents in the medal; bloodstains too if you looked close enough. Caroline wondered when and where this came from and why Klaus had kept it so long.

Then Bonnie cleared her throat, bringing Caroline out of her musings. She set the chain in the middle of their circle. It was surrounded by even more candles and herbs.

"Ok so I'll start chanting and then on my signal we touch the object and it should transport us back to that time period, to wherever Klaus was," Bonnie said.

"How are you guys going to kill Klaus once you're there," Elena asked.

"That's what these are for," Caroline said, unzipping her boot and revealing one of the special daggers that put the originals in their little comas. "Bonnie created some more. We can't kill him, but we can put him out of commission and hide his body where it will never be found."

Elena nodded and the girls joined hands. This was the plan. Go back in time and kill Klaus long before he had the chance to become invincible. Preventing him from ever coming to Mystic Falls, preventing him from ever killing Jenna, or taking away Stefan or screwing up any of their lives. If he was dead in the past, he wouldn't ruin their futures.

"Ready?" Bonnie asked. They nodded and she began the spell.

Caroline remembered feeling the low hum of the magic, the electricity in the air, as the flames on the candles grew taller and the spell began to take hold. She had barely heard Bonnie when she gave the signal. Caroline's hand had flown to Klaus's necklace, the metal of the charm burned her hand, but she kept hold of it. She felt a pull at her belly button and felt her bones twisted and turn. Her head spun and her ears rang. She didn't know what was up and what was down.

Then everything went black.

And she woke up here. In this forest. With the birds singing.

But what happened to Bonnie? She was supposed to come with her and Elena was supposed to stay. That was the plan. She checked her boot, making sure the dagger was still there. She breathed a sigh of relief as she felt the cool metal against her fingers.

She stood up and brushed the leaves from her pants and hair. Now to figure out where she was and find Klaus. Also, when she was. A branch snapped behind her and she whipped around at the sound, spreading her legs in a fighting stance. Her jaw dropped a little when she saw what was behind her. It was Klaus. _Well that was easy_, she thought to herself.

"Well, well. What have we here?" Klaus said, circling her predatory. Caroline watched him closely, taking in what he was wearing. He had on a loose, cream colored shirt, that was stained with blood. Over his shirt he wore a black velvet jacket, silvery studs sewn over the sleeves. His legs were wrapped in some kind of black pants and he wore thick, black boots. Judging from his clothes, she must have ended up during the medieval period. When Klaus was definitely still a vampire but definitely still as dangerous as ever.

She saw the evil glint in his eye and watched him carefully as he continued to circle her. His eyes were taking her in as well, noting her own clothes, and maybe even possibly what she would look like without them.

"Are you lost in the woods my dear?" He taunted, stepping closer to her now. Caroline kept her eyes open for his attack.

"No actually, I've found what I'm looking for," she replied.

He chuckled and licked his lips. "Well, that makes two of us then."

Before Caroline could react he lung forward. She screamed as he knocked her to the ground, his fangs sinking into her neck. She him draining the blood from her throat and tried her best to push him off. But then his teeth ripped from her neck, the blood trickling from the wound.

He stared down at her, wide eyed, straddling her torso on the ground. Her hand flew to her neck instinctively staunch the blood flow as she looked up at his face. She tried her best to calm her pulse and not look afraid, but she knew she wasn't doing very well. She was afraid. He had attacked her so easily. Her one shot and this was it. She had failed her friends. All she could hope was that Bonnie would succeed in her stead.

Klaus's eyes narrowed and he grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from the wound. She gasped, the sound more like a sob than anything else, and he watched as the skin knitted itself back together. With his other hand he ran his thumb across the blood, whipping it away to reveal the healed wound.

He had leaned into her more in his curiosity, his face hovering over hers.

"You're a vampire," Klaus said, coming to the realization. "I know every vampire in England. But I don't know you."

Caroline grunted under his weight, trying to break free of his grasp, but he only pressed her further into the ground.

"My name is Caroline," she said, "Caroline Forbes."

She screamed again as Klaus pulled her from the ground and pushed her up against a large oak tree. His fingers dug into her throat, cutting into her windpipe and causing her to choke.

"Who sent you here?"

"No one," she gasped, her legs kicking, "stop it!"

"Liar," he sneered and dropped her to the ground.

Caroline gasped and coughed, trying to regroup her strength. Her hand went to her boot, to the dagger. If he was going to kill her here, in the woods, she wasn't going down without a fight.

Klaus loomed over her, she looked up and met his eyes, brushing her hair off her face. His gaze was angry, but curious. He cocked his head at her strangely, regarding her as if she were some weird plant he hand found in the forest. She waited for him to strike at her again, but it didn't come.

"You're coming with me," he said, turning from her and walking away.

"What? I'm not going with you!"

Klaus turned back toward her. "Or I could just kill you here and now? Take your pick sweetheart."

Caroline sat there on the ground, considering for a moment. Fight it out now, where she certainly didn't have a chance or wait until later when she might have an actual opportunity to gain the upper hand and end him. Before she could give her answer, Klaus spoke again.

"That's what I though," he said flashing her a small grin, "come along then."

Klaus walked off into the forest. Caroline gaped at him for a couple moments, before scrambling up and following him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! Here is the conclusion of Blood and Water. The last chapter. Just a giant bit of fluff that I hope everyone enjoys. I'm pretty sure its the fluffiest thing I've ever written haha**

**I hope everyone enjoyed this sequel, I never really meant for it to be a long story, just something extra to add to my very first fan fic.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Thirty short minutes later, Caroline had her makeup done, her hair curled and her dress on. The doorbell rang and she grabbed her small purse, checking herself in the hallway mirror one last time. She hadn't had enough time to do anything super fancy to her hair. All that time spent flipping through prom hair magazines gone to waste. She simply curled it and pinned it up so that it cascaded down her back. Her palms smoothed down the gown that Klaus had given her, smiling at the way it fit her perfectly. She wondered if he had had any help picking it out.<p>

The doorbell rang again impatiently, and Caroline quickly headed to answer it. On her step was a black suited chauffeur; behind him was a black stretch limousine pulled up outside of her house.

"Miss Forbes?" The man asked, she nodded and he gestured politely with his hand to follow. The man opened the door for her and she climbed in to the limo.

"Elena?" Caroline said, sitting down and seeing her friend on the other side of the seat. Elena was dressed in a long gown of her own. It was black, with flecks of gold weaved throughout, highlighting the gold tones in her hair and eyes.

"Caroline, do you have any idea what's going on?"

Caroline smiled to herself and nodded. "Apparently Klaus and Damon can work together for the greater good."

Elena nodded in understanding, finally putting all the surprise pieces of the puzzle together.

The limo drove them through town, to the outskirts of Mystic Falls, stopping finally at the Salvatore boarding house. The driver got out and opened the door, helping the ladies out of the car.

"Miss Gilbert, you are instructed to go inside. Mr. Salvatore will be waiting for you there. Miss Forbes, I believe you will find Mr. Klaus around back in the gardens."

Caroline and Elena gave each other a knowing look. Maybe the boys weren't becoming friends after all. Elena gave Caroline a little wave and headed inside, while Caroline picked up her skirts and strolled around to the backside of the house.

The garden of the Salvatore house was breathtaking. Caroline had never spent much time exploring the grounds; even during the short time she had lived here. Tiny white lights were weaved around the flowers and vines, illuminating the scenery. Purple, pink, and blue flowers bloomed around perfectly manicured shrubs. There was a gray stone fountain, the water singing quietly as it trickled down the stones and into a tiny pool of fish. The garden was actually rather large, more like a small park. In the center of everything a large wooden floor had been laid out and in the center of that stood Klaus.

He smiled at her as she came around the corner and into view. Caroline smiled back. He looked amazing in his black and white tuxedo. Klaus stood in the center of the large dance floor, a tiny rose in his hand.

"You clean up nicely," she said as she approached him. Klaus smirked, taking her hand in his and slipping on the rose corsage.

"You look ravishing," he replied, pulling her in for a kiss.

"This is quite the dress."

"You're quite the woman," he replied. Klaus signaled with his hand and suddenly music filled the air, a slow romantic song. Klaus took a step back and extended one hand toward her.

"May I have this dance?"

Caroline smiled and gave him a playful curtsey, accepting his hand and stepping into his arms. He led her slowly around the dance floor, swaying to the music.

"Klaus I—"

"Shh love," he whispered, pulling her closer, "don't spoil the moment."

Caroline sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, feeling the comfort of his arms around her. She glanced behind him and saw Rebekah, standing on the other side of the glass door, glaring at them. The girl noticed Caroline staring back and quickly disappeared back inside. Caroline could only imagine what might be running through the vampire's mind. She pulled away from Klaus slightly and tried speaking again.

"Look, about Rebekah—" but he cut her off once more.

"Please don't ask me," Klaus said. The tone of his voice and the look in his eyes struck her. Rarely had she ever seen him look or sound this way. Her gaze flicked away momentarily, trying to quickly sort out her thoughts. She didn't want to ruin the moment or this beautiful night Klaus had planned, but this subject had been eating away at her for days and she had had nothing to do but sit around and think about it.

"Just let me say this. I'm not going to ask you anything I promise," Caroline said. Klaus nodded so she continued. "I thought about the whole me or Rebekah thing and I don't know what you were possibly thinking. I don't know what I would have been thinking in a situation like that. I don't have any siblings so I don't know if I'd be able to choose or not choose them in a life or death situation. I mean maybe if it were my mom or dad or Elena—"

Klaus chuckled, "You're rambling sweetheart."

"Right," she said clearing her throat, "I thought about asking. I really did. But I don't want to know. I can't ask you that. It's not important anyways."

"It's not?"

Caroline shook her head. "No it's not. All I need to know is that you love me."

Klaus paused their dancing and took her face in his hands, pressing a hard kiss to her lips. Caroline's breath caught as she felt the heat of his kiss throughout her entire body. She wrapped her hands around his waist, feeling the solidity of his presence. She never wanted to lose this. To lose him. Klaus broke away from her and stared deep into her eyes.

"Caroline, I love you more than anything in this entire world. More than anything in this entire existence."

She smiled at his words and kissed him again, letting him know that she understood completely. That she trusted him completely.

Their lips parted and they continued dancing as the song changed.

"I'm sorry you had to miss your prom," Klaus whispered in her ear, "I know how important it was to you."

"Well this definitely makes up for it," Caroline said smiling into his shoulder.

Klaus twirled her around and dipped her down, supporting her weight in his strong arms. Caroline laughed as she looked up at him.

"Well love, the night is just getting started," he replied mysteriously.

Caroline opened her mouth to ask what he meant when she heard the doorbell ring from inside, followed by the sound of many different and loud voices. Klaus set her back on the feet and flashed her a huge grin.

"Damn gym flooded again, someone really should look at those pipes."

A huge, knowing smile broke out across her face. Caroline jumped up and flung her arms around him. He laughed and squeezed her back just as the rest of Mystic Falls High ran out to the backyard and on to the dance floor. The DJ started up the dance music and everyone cheered.

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><p>Dawn was breaking over the horizon. Caroline and Klaus sat on the balcony of her old room at the Salvatore house, cuddled up under a blanket. Underneath they were nothing but skin on skin. Klaus brushed his fingers through her hair, lightly kissing her temple. Caroline hummed her satisfaction as the birds began to rise and sing out their morning song.<p>

She'd had an absolutely perfect night. Prom had been even greater than she imagined. She got to dance with her friends, take pictures, drink and laugh and make once in a lifetime memories with everyone she held dear. She wasn't even too upset when Olivia Fell was crowned prom queen instead of her. Damon said that he would compel her a crown if she wanted, but Caroline really could care less. For some reason, things like prom queen seemed less important now. Maybe it was because everything they had been through the past year. Maybe it was because she was finally growing up. Whatever it was, she couldn't remember being happier than she was right at this moment.

"What are you thinking love?" Klaus asked, raising her hand to his lips and giving each of her fingers a gentle kiss.

Caroline felt that warm pull in her belly. Even though they hadn't slept a wink the entire night, she still couldn't get enough of him. She was more than ready to spend the next week of her life alone, in this bedroom, with just Klaus. And something in the way his body suddenly began to tense as she caressed him said that he wouldn't mind that either.

"That everything about last night was perfect. That I'm probably the luckiest girl in the history of the world."

"Yes you're quite lucky love. Being kidnapped and body snatched by a vindictive witch and almost killed, it doesn't get luckier than that."

Caroline just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Eventually Klaus would have to stop blaming himself for everything that had happened to her in the past week.

"No," she said turning to face him, her curves pressed deliciously into his body, "lucky that I'm alive. That we all made it out unscathed once again. That I have you back and we can be normal for a little while."

Klaus ran his hands across the skin of her back, sending chills down her spine. "Normal. Isn't that kind of boring?"

"Yes. But just for now. No use in going out looking for trouble," Caroline said pecking at his lips.

"True," Klaus replied, "trouble will find us soon enough."

Caroline laughed sardonically. "Don't we know it."

Klaus returned her laugh, undaunted by the fact that in his experience, the normal and quiet life only lasted so long. Might as well do as she suggested and enjoy it while he could.

"So what's next then love?"

Caroline's mouth twisted in pretend consideration. "Finish school… graduation…you?"

"Oh no big plans. Just spend time with my girlfriend, shower her with gifts, watch her graduate high school…"

Caroline smirked at him. "_Girlfriend_?" She couldn't believe he had actually used the G word.

"Yeah I was thinking of taking her on a little trip afterwards. As a graduation present. Most teenagers go on trips after they graduate right? Take a year off? Find themselves and all that."

Caroline brushed her lips against his. "Oh really where were you thinking?"

Klaus smiled against her mouth. "Paris…Rome…Tokyo?"

She giggled as his arms wrapped around her and held her tight against his body. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

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><p><strong>So did you guys like this? Hopefully the answer was yes. I made a few parallels between what happened on the show and what happened here, just because when I originally wrote it I was trying to keep it as canon as possible.<strong>

**And I also liked that Klaus and Damon kinda got together to create this alternate-prom for Caroline and Elena. But let's face facts, the guys will never really be friends haha**

**Don't be shy with those reviews! ;)**

**follow me on tumblr at hybridlovelies!**

**and stay tuned for my next fic :**)


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